Sad to hear that Holger Czukay, born Holger Schüring, the co-founder and bassist of the iconic and influential Krautrock band Can has left the planet. He was 79. He was reportedly found dead in the original Inner Space Can studio in Weilerswist (formerly a movie theater) near Cologne, where he had allegedly been living. His cause of death is unknown. It follows the loss for the band this year; of founding drummer Jaki Liebezeit who passed away in January, and then the sad loss of his wife U- She, who passed away on July 28th, her 55th birthday.
"We are very sad to confirm that Holger passed away yesterday, in his home, the old CAN Studio in Weilerswist," the band wrote on Facebook. "His wife U-She passed away only weeks before. Holger was devastated by the loss of his beloved partner, but was looking forward to making more music and was in good spirits. His passing has come as a shock. We will post more information about funeral arrangements shortly."
Czukay was born in Gdansk, Poland on March 24, 1938 but the onset of the Second World War saw his family being expelled from the country. After falling in love with music at a young age, he spent his formative years studying to be a composer and conductor, but his ideas were frequently too radical for mainstream tastes; after being disqualified from one jazz festival for his "unclassifiable music," he was later expelled from Berlin's Music Academy for similar artistic insolence.
Czukay studied in Cologne from 1963 to 1966 with the pioneering avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, a mentor-figure who made a lasting impact on his approach to life and music. While he initially had little interest in rock and roll , he was piqued by the Beatles I am the Walrus ,which led him to discover the music of the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix , and Frank Zappa among others.
In 1968, after picking up the bass , Czukay teamed up with the young German guitarist Michael Karoli, fellow Stokhausen protégé Irmin Schmidt, and American born vocalist Malcolm Mooney and the group Inner Space was formed. Quickly renamed Can, they released their debut album Monster Movie in 1969, the first in a series of visionary albums establishing the band as one of the truly most seminal group of the period.. Can were described by critic Jason Ankeny as "successfully bridging the gap between pop and the avant-garde," Czukay was one of the pivotal underground figures of his era, over the course of his long, expansive career, he successfully bridged the gap between pop and the avant-garde, pioneering the use of samples and exploring the significance of world music on Western culture.He recorded nine albums with Can , leaving the group after Saw Delight in 1977. Their albums Tago Mago, EgeBanyasi, Future Days for me are timeless masterpieces. Relying heavily on improvisational songwriting they blended elements of psychedelica and jazz which has continued to exert a considerable influence on avant-garde, experimental, post-punk, ambient, new wave and electronic music ever since.
Czukay released 15 solo albums over the years, developing recording techniques and pioneering the art of sampling. This was before computers made sampling an effortless practice, as it originally required the sampler to physically cut strips of tape. He also pioneered what he called “radio painting”, using shortwave radios to record random snippets of sound and pasting them collage-style into recordings; “rhythm boxing” was his description of how he used drum machines
Czukay issued his debut solo effort, Movies in 1980. In addition to critical raves, the record won considerable interest throughout the musical community, and Czukkay subsequently began work on a number of outside projects: in addition to playing on Eurythmics' 1981 debut, In the Garden he teamed with Jaki Liebezeit and bassist Jah Wobble for the LP Full Circle and the club hit "How Much Are They."
Czukay's next official solo release was 1982's On the way to the peak of normal, another collaboration with Wobble, this was followed by 1984's Der Osten 1st Rot and 1987's Rome Remains Rome .He also recorded the Balearic disco classic Snake Charmer with New York DJ Francois Kevorkian, U2 guitarist The Edge and again Public Image Limited’s Jah Wobble
His most recent release was 2015′s archival collection, Eleven Years Innerspace. Can's most recent release was this years compilation The Singles.
A true trailblazing visionary,in our oceans of sound R.I .P
Holger Czukay - Cool in the pool
Can - Paperhouse
Can - Vitamin C
Can - Halleluwah
Holger Czukay - Float Space
- Holger Czukay - On the way to the peak of normal
Very grateful to a friend of mine, who recently gifted me for my fiftieth birthday the latest release by the creative force and songwriter of Pink Floyd ,Roger Waters, an astounding conceptual masterpiece entitled : "Is This the Life We Really Want?" his first rock album in 25 years, superbly produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck etc).
At 73-year-old Waters still has not mellowed with age and he's certainly not too pleased, with the current state of the world. In fact, he's downright angry.That's a reason why "Is This the Life We Really Want?" arrives with an explicit lyrics warning.
The record is both a loud protest of current events and a continuation of the themes Waters last explored 25 years ago on "Amused to Death" which was a prescient study of popular culture, exploring the power of television in the era of the First Gulf War.
Anyone hoping for a bold new direction, or some level of subtlety from Waters is not going to find it on Waters latest release. And I for one am certainly not complaining. With a strong voice which vibrates with rage and fury over 12 tracks ,Waters paints a picture of a desperate world and issues an angry protest, against the things that make it so, from drone warfare, targeted assassination, “black site” torture, the refugee crisis, global warming, corporate greed, inequality, injustice, lying politicians, brainless leaders and "nincompoop" presidents.
Few musicians dispense political invective quite like Roger Waters. From the social order lambasting found on the Pink Floyd records Animals, The Wall and The Final Cut, plus a string of solo albums, Waters has long spoken out against what he sees as humanity’s greatest failures, mans inclination towards war and greed.On Is ths the life we really want? he sticks to his anti-war, and anti-greed rhetoric, with blunt, expletive-soaked verses, that I feel are much needed in the present time.
A song called Picture That sets the tone, a litany of modern outrage, from prosthetic limbs in Afghanistan to having an idiot for president :
‘Picture a shithouse with no fucking drains,’ Waters advises ‘Picture a leader with no fucking brains.’
Waters has been a fierce critic of US President Donald Trump and delighted audiences in Mexico City last year with a rendition of the 1977 Ping Floyd song “Pigs”, showing images of Trump with a machine gun outside the White House and giving a Nazi salute. On the day Trump was inaugurated, Waters declared on Facebook that “the resistance begins today.”
Picture That
While this record is firmly rooted in the present, there are echoes of the past, ticking clocks, ghostly (and sometimes angry) disembodied voices, barking dogs and a passing reference to the guitar riff of "Wish You Were Here" all serving as echoes of Pink Floyd's past without being a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
His track Smell the Roses draws on Animals, setting a melodic vocal line over a steamroller guitar riff evoking the classic Pink Floyd sound. The lyrics, however, have a decisively modern edge; Waters is clearly taking aim at the turbulence of our contemporary era with lines like:
“This is the room where they make the explosives/ Where they put your name on the bomb/ Here’s where they bury the buts and the ifs/ And scratch out words like right and wrong” Smell the Roses
As on “Amused To Death,” Waters is angry with God, too, or perhaps the idea of God, in “Deja Vu”:
Deja Vu
If I had been God I would have sired many sons, and I would not have suffered the Romans to kill even one of them
If I had been God With my staff and my rod If I had been given the nod I believe I could have done a better job The song then segues to one of the album’s finest lyrical moments, adding to its clear attacks on Trump a swipe at Obama era militarism: If I were a drone Patrolling foreign skies With my electronic eyes for guidance And the element of surprise I would be afraid to find someone home Maybe a woman at a stove Baking bread, making rice, or just boiling down some bones If I were a drone.
His powerful imagination reaffirms him as a great songwriter, capable of awakening consciousness and moving the world.His track Broken Bones delves into the torturing of innocents and other horrible acts carried out in freedoms name. It serves to point to a familiar Water's cry :
We cannot turn back the clock / We cannot go back in time/ But we can say Fuck you, we will not listen to your bullshit and lies, your bullshit and lies. Broken Bones
One of the my personal favourites is a moving track is based on a poem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. The song ' Wait for her ' was inspired by an English translation of Lesson from the Kama Sutra (Wait for her by Darwish.as well as the tragic death of three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi, whose body was discovered on the shores of Turkey in 2015.
Darwish , who died in 2008, is considered a Palestinian national symbol who was a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation .He is known as one of the great influential poets of the Islamic and Arab world. Born in a village in a village that later became part of northern Israel and a resident of countries including Lebanon, France and Jordan, he spent part of the last years of his life in the West Bank city of Ramallah
The poet was critical of Israel as well as of terror group Hamas, which currently rules the Gaza Strip.
The love poem that inspired Waters begins with the lines “Wait for her with an azure cup. Wait for her in the evening at the spring, among perfumed roses.” But it ends with the lines “There is no one alive but the two of you. So take her gently to the death you so desire, and wait.”
You can find a translation of poem on previous post on Mahmoud Darwish here :- https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/mahmoud-darwish-poet-of-resistance.html
The video features footage of Waters and his touring band performing in a studio, interspersed with scenes of a woman in a dressing room preparing for some kind of performance. That woman, Azurra is the same actress/dancer featured in the video for Roger's new tune "The Last Refugee."
The Last Refugee shows all the mixed emotions a woman who's been displaced from her homeland might feel. The 4:14 minute clip opens with a close up of an old transistor radio broadcasting a BBC Radio sign off. The musical intro gradually fades in with drums, as well as piano accompaniment,
The camera pans away from the radio to show a young woman dancing in a parka inside an old abandoned brick warehouse. As it pulls back further to show the squalor of the woman's living conditions, the scene briefly transitions to her dancing in a ballroom, wearing a glamorous black dress and then reverts back to the ramshackle warehouse, as Waters sings, “Lie with me now/Under the lemon tree skies/Show me the shy slow smile/You keep hidden by warm brown eyes.”
The video is co-credited to Waters and longtime associate Sean Evans. Evans previously directed the concert film “Roger Waters: The Wall,” which premiered in 2014 at the Toronto Film Festival. Fans can check out the “Last Refugee” video above.
The Last Refugee
In the "Wait for Her" video, Azzura is shown sitting at a theatrical mirror as she applies makeup and nail polish. She also places two crumpled photos of a young girl, apparently her daughter, on the mirror and gazes sadly at them.
As the clip continues, a large scar is visible on the woman's neck, and she begins to cry. After changing into a new outfit, she leaves the dressing room and apparently heads toward a stage as the video ends. As for the woman's scar the video director Sean Evans explained that "it is a symbol of the physical torment refugees endure."
Wait for her
With a glass inlaid with gemstones On a pool around the evening Among the perfumed roses Wait for her
With the patience of a packhorse loaded for the mountains Like a stoic, noble prince Wait for her
With seven pillows laid out on the stair The scent of womens' incense fills the air Be calm, and wait for her
And do not flush the sparrows that are nesting in her braids All along the barricades Wait for her
And if she comes soon Wait for her And if she comes late Wait
Let her be still as a summer afternoon A garden in full bloom
Let her breathe in the air that is foreign to her heart Let her lips part Wait for her
Waters has long been known for his vocal defence of the Palestinian people.So I am glad ,that Roger is still not sitting back in silence, still releasing his raw honesty. As an activist and human rights defender, he has never rested on his laurels, an individual who has continually used his voice to speak out, against abusers of power, whilst at same time issuing a plea for sanity. Using his talents.in the service of bringing people together and insisting they make themselves aware of the dire circumstances that we all face. His art inspires and enables us to keep up the struggle for a peaceful and just planet.
If you don't like politics, then stay away from this album. if not, listen to it, and bask in an old man's unrelenting rage.It is important to commend Waters and his strong stance and beliefs. There aren’t many celebrities who publicly take a pro-Palestinian stance. Waters is shaking the world with his new album a powerful and poignant statement for our times that simply should not be ignored. This record is exactly what the world needs to hear, it rips the greedy flesh right off of its bones, exposing the world and its leaders as inflated anti-humanitarians; leaving us disgraced at the cruelty we allowed to happen for the sake of currency and power. Stirling stuff. And as for comparisons with Pink Floyds last effort Endless River it beats it by miles. Another world is fucking possible.After all, is this the life we really want?
The musicians playing on the record, besides Waters himself who takes care of vocals, acoustic guitar and bass, are: Nigel Godrich (arrangement, sound collages, keyboards, guitar), Gus Seyffert (bass, guitar, keyboards), Jonathan Wilson (guitar, keyboards), Joey Waronker (drums), Roger Manning (keyboards), Lee Pardini (keyboards), and Lucius (vocals) with Jessica Wolfe and Holly Proctor.
Roger Waters Poem - Is this the life we really want?
Palestinian clowns hold portraits of their colleague Mohammed Abu Sakha during a demonstration in solidarity with him in February 2016 in Gaza
A Palestinian clown accused by Israel's Ben Bet security agency of membership of a banned leftist group called the Popular Front for th liberation of Palestine and held without charge for 20 months has been released. On Thursday, 26 years old Mohammed Abu Sakha was released from Administration detention, the controversial measure in which Israel detains suspects without trial.
The procedure allows Israel to keep suspects in prison for very long stretches of time without needing to begin a legal procedure or even informing the arrested people why they are being held.
Abu Sakha returned to the Northern West Bank city of Jenin , where friends and family were waiting to welcome him.
Abu had been part of the Palestinian Circus School. in Bin Ziet in the West Bank since 2008,first as a student, and later as a clown and teacher. To the children with mental disabilities that he had taught before his imprisonment, who attach a lot of importance to their emotions, his arrest and subsequent imprisonment must have been incredibly hurtful
He says he will return to the circus, which is a constant source of hope for the oppressed population. He wants to devote his life to improving the lives of children and young people in the West Bank.
His imprisonment had sparked a high-profile campaign for his release, with support from circus performers and activists around the world.During street performances of pogo stick jumping or other acrobatic routines, they have all been raising signs that say, “Free Abu Sakha!” Some of them have also posted video clips from their own circuses. American recording artist David Rovics wrote a song about him, too: “He could have been a fighter, as so many others did. … Instead he joined a circus troupe to warm the aching hearts. Sometimes the hula hoop is the best way to play your part. And his only crime was making children happy.” Amnesty International also strongly condemned his detention calling for him to be “charged with a crime or released”. Saying that they opposed administrative detention, “because it violates the right to liberty and to a fair trial”.
“Amnesty International also considers that Israel’s use of administrative detention itself may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, given the detainee’s inability to know why they are being detained or when they will be released,” the group said in a statement.
Abu Sakha, 26, told Middle East Eye that he had mixed feelings about being released from administrative detention, a controversial measure under which Israel detains suspects without trial for periods of several months.
“I’m happy to be released … but I know that there are many people in the same position as me still inside, so I’m sad at the same time,” said Abu Sakha :http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-frees-palestinian-clown-after-nearly-two-year-detention-without-charge-310587888
Palestinian human rights activist groups report that to date there are at least 6200 Palestinians detained in Israeli jails; of these, approximately 450 are held on the basis of an administrative detention order.
War, injustice, and repression starts here. Thousands of people are coming together to stop it. Be part of it! Join the protests and add your name to thecall to Stop the Arms Fair On 12 September, the international weapons industry plans to set up shop in East London at a huge arms fair DSEI, the weapons sold here fuel the death and destruction duel the and injustice perpetrated by militaries, police forces and at borders around the world. For one week every two years, arms companies like BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Airbus etc etc display their weapons to buyers from around the world, including countries in conflict, authoritarian regimes and countries with serious human rights problems. Weapons that have been used to crush pro-democracy movements around the world. Many of the biggest companies at DSEI are central to the Trident replacement and the nuclear arms race – spending billions to kill millions. In 2015, hundreds of people took part in a week of action - the biggest ever protests against the DSEI. For six days entrances were blocked, disrupting the set up o the fair. 2017 is set to be even bigger. Join actions at the gates every day from 4-11 September, stopping the arms fair before it starts. If you can't be there in person, you can still make sure the opposition is the biggest ever. As the September 4th start date edges closer, early actions to draw attention to protests against this annual gathering of the merchants of death have begun to filter in. Posters have been put up around London by activists using the increasingly popular method of hijacked bus hoardings.
Stop the Arms Fair is regularly updating on social media in advance of the event and has been putting up useful tips such as onknowing your rights on its website. A full schedule off events has also been published of what's going on during the week, see below
The latest annual report from the government’s Defence and Security Organisation shows that the UK won £6bn of arms deals in 2016 – representing 9% of the global market. Half of the total value was to the Middle East.Over 10 years, the report ranks Britain as the second biggest arms dealer in the world behind the US.
A telling example of the blood money and lucrative profits to be made by the revolving door between government departments and arms companies is the case of Elbit Systems and former British army General Dick Applegate who went on to become chairman of Israel arms company Elbit Systems IK branch in 2011.
According to Campaigm Against Arms Trade:"In 2012 the Sunday Times exposed Applegate, ewcording him boasting of how he lobbied to secure 500m of government money or Elbit. Appleton was filmed admitting he'd applied pressure by 'infecting; the system at every level."
Lets remember that the UK government helps to organise this arms fair, and invites these military buyers from around the world, and helps arms companies to make deals, at taxpayer expense.Theresa May’s Government also exports weapons to 22 out of 30 countries on their own human rights watchlist. A vicar’s daughter should know better.
The arms industry's influence is all pervasive at every level of government influencing both foreign policy and public spending. It means that instead of criticising abuses committed by regimes such as Saudi Arabia, the British government goes out of it's way to sell them more weapons.
Deals hatched and made at the DSEI Arms Fair destroy lives, create mayhem and destruction. This has to stop, and together we can stop it. These profiteers of human misery should be given no welcome.
P.P.S. Are you in the Labour Party? If so, please take urgent action to ask your Constituency Labour Party to support a Stop Arming Saudi contemporary motion for Conference.
Another World is Possible - Stop the Arms Fair 2017
Rabindranath Tagore was a a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. This Poet, Philosopher, Musician, Writer, Educator,.has been labeled the "King of Poets" for his beautiful and exquisite poetry..
Born in 1861 in Calcutta into a wealthy and prominent Brahman family. His father was Maharishi Debendranath Tagore, a religious reformer and scholar. His mother, Sarada Devi, died when Tagore was very young. Tagore received his early education first from tutors and then at a variety of schools. Among them were Bengal Academy where he studied history and culture. At University College, London, he studied law but left after a year - he did not like the weather. Tagore started to compose poems at the age of eight. Tagore's first book, a collection of poems, appeared when he was 17; it was published by Tagore's friend who wanted to surprise him.
In 1883 Tagore married Mrinalini Devi Rai chaudhuri, with whom he had two sons and three daughters. In 1890 Tagore moved to East Bengal (now Bangladesh), where he collected local legends and folklore, combining this with a great love of music, in particular Bengali music.
Tagore wrote 51 plays,13 novels, over 110 short stories ,over 1000 poems, over 2000 songs, two of which became the national anthem of India and Bangladesh, many, many letters and essays, painted over 2000 paintings, founded a university and a school, was a social reformer, did political work ,wrote on educational philosophy and wrote on the philosophy of science. Le't's just say he had a busy , productive life.
Tagore wrote his most important works in Bengali, but he often translated his poems into English. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his seemingly mesmeric personality, flowing hair, and other-worldly dress earned him a prophet-like reputation in the West, highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to us and vice versa, and is considered one of the most outstanding creative artists to have emerged from India.
Tagore became the first non- European to be awarded the Nobel Prize in 1913 for his book ‘Gitanjali’, (Incidentally, I am fortunate to own a copy, mine from 1927, picked up from Amnesty International Garden party for 50p, rests neatly by my Edward Carpenter, another inspiration, that I have only recently discovered was actually a close friend and correspondent with Rabindranath. I like the fact two of their books have nestled side by side for years, before I realised their connection., in act of symbiosis ).
W. B. Yeats in particular was deeply impressed with this particular work and wrote an introduction. With this honour Tagore became famous in both India and the West. In 1915 Tagore was knighted by King George; however Tagore was to return his knighthood in protest of the Amritsar massacre (1919) where British troops killed more than a 1000 unarmed Indian demonstrators after General Reginald Dyer ordered troops to fire machine guns into the crowd.
In the following poem, Tagore paints a moving picture of how he would like India to be, a country that is free from oppression or forced compulsion. When Tagore wrote this poem, India was struggling to break free from the British Raj.Although Tagore was good friends with Mohandas Gandhi, he disagreed with Gandhi’s political ideas concerning Indian independence. Rabindranath Tagore denounced British imperialism, yet he did not fully support or agree with Gandhi and his Noncooperation Movement. He viewed British rule as a symptom of the overall “sickness” of the social “disease” of the public. India eventually got it's Independence on August 15th 1947, after a long political and social struggle that would involve non violent and civil disobedience resulting in the partition of India into the dominions of India and Pakistan.
Yet many years after this poem was written it still continues to have global appeal, speaking out to us, almost prayer like, seeking a a world that is not fragmented by prejudices or superstition. The yearning for a world where there is a freedom of the spirit, of the mind, of respect and dignity, where people do not cower in subjugation. Our world, our nations, ,are still far from free of all of its burdens, but Tagore at least here, gives us a glimpse of hope, a concern and search that I believe still deeply resonates . Let My Country Awake (Where The Mind Is Without Fear) - Rabindranath Tagore
Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit ;
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
The original Bengali language poem, "Chitto jetha bhayashunyo", was published in 1910 and included in the collection Gitanjali by Tagore.
Politicians were said to have shed tears earlier this week when Big Ben was silenced. Where were the crying politicians for the working class dead of Grenfell Tower? Where was the outrage at ordinary people's reliance on food banks, child poverty, the NHS crisis or the increasing number of homeless people on streets.
MPs gathered to bow their heads as the world-famous clock tower rang out for the last time, last Monday because the 157-year old clock tower is undergoing vital repairs and the bell will be taken out of service – apart from Remembrance Sunday and New Year’s Eve – until 2021 to protect the hearing of workers. Theresa May was one who joined in this shallow chorus of dismay, declaring ' it can't be right ' that Big Ben be kept silent for so long. As Members of Parliament get upset about a big clock stopping chiming for a few years, I would like to have reminded them that in the real world, we are facing .times of uncertainty, inequality, division and suffering. But certain politicians are so clearly out of touch and isolated from the reality of other people's lives. Hope it's not only me but the sight of politicians mourning for a clock while so many lives are being destroyed , looked not only stupid but trivial too. It's not even as if the clock is going to be torn down, it's chimes of freedom will eventually return, just think that there are much bigger issues politicians should be concerning themselves with such as food banks, the GP crisis, a referendum imposed by morons and harsh cuts, all these issues of far greater importance. I am shocked, but not really that surprised that MPs demonstrably give more of a fuck about an old clock than they do about actual human beings.
There are times
When the world is unwilling
The fuel we seek
Remains diminished
We fall and rise
Hatch a plan or two
It begins to rain
We find excuses
Wait until after dark
For quiet moments
That let go of yesterday.
Seek out new songs
Old rhetoric tossed aside
Create laws out of dust
Staying alert, beyond command
Release acts of disobedience
Strategies of renewal
Fruits of endless toil
Storing ideas, to work their hidden will
Beyond conditioned chains of time
Weather the storms,
With clouds made of tomorrow
In 1843 the whole of west Wales was gripped in the civil disturbances known as the ‘Rebecca Riots’. Aimed mainly at the unfair tolls that were charged for the use of the turnpike roads, the rioters disguised with blackened faces and attired in women’s clothes would attack and destroy the offending tollgates and their attached gatehouses. This uprising of an oppressed peasantry against the burden of the tollgates has become part of the folk tradition of West Wales.
Farmers were the hardest hit as they used the roads to transport lime to their farms to improve the soil. In 1839, a new gate was erected at Efailwen to catch farmers who were evading the tolls. It was the last straw. Already there were too many toll gates; the market town of Carmarthen was like a fortress with twelve gates around it. The Efailwen gate was destroyed by a large crowd and when it was re-erected, a public meeting was announced 'for the purpose of considering the necessity of a toll-gate at Efailwen.' It concluded that there was no need and the gate was destroyed again.
The name 'Rebecca' was that of the mythical leader. 'She' had helpers like 'Charlotte', Nelly and 'Miss Cromwell' and followers (daughters). The name came from the Bible which Welsh chapels goers had learned to read in the previous couple of generations: 'And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, by thou the mother of thousands of millions and let thy seed possess the gate of those that hate them' (Genesis 24 Verse 60). The toll gates were seen as the property of the gentry ('those that hate them') as they were often the trustees of the turnpikes. The gates became a symbol of many different discontents about the land and the church (which was also seen as the church of the gentry). The rioters wore women's clothes and blackened their faces, for disguise, but also perhaps to suggest the idea that women were entitled to act to defend their families. Normally respectable people may have felt that in disguise they were symbolising their community rather then breaking the law as an individual.
Pat Molloy, an author of a book on the riots, said that Rebecca was a champion waiting to be called upon. To the country people there was a higher law than man's but when man's law intruded into their world it was obeyed, provided that it accorded with their notion o natural justice. When it jailed or oppressed them they looked for justice, and when man's law refused them justice, or set too high a price on it, they knew instinctively where to turn. Then they looked to their Bibles for a sign, without which, right would not be on their side nor success attend their endeavours. They found it, and they blessed Rebecca.
By the end of the summer 'The Rebecca Riots', which had ravaged these parts, was drawing to an end. The violent and clandestine attacks on the tollgates were being replaced by peaceful and open air meetings calling for political action. Perhaps 'the greatest of all these meetings' was held on the slopes of Mynydd Sylen near Llanelli, where it is claimed that no less than three thousand people were in attendance. Farmers came from all over the south east of the area and colliers sacrificed day's pay to attend.
On the 25th of August 1843 some of the most important and influential people addressed the meeting including the 'Rebecca' leader, Hugh Williams and the Llanelli landowner and magistrate William Chambers Junior JP. The Times reporter, Thomas Campbell Foster and the lithographer, William James Linton of the London Illustrated news reported on the event. As a result of the meeting a lengthy petition to Queen Victoria was drawn up calling for an end to the injustices.
Subsequently, attacks by Rebecca continued, but with far less frequency. The main reasons being that the authorities had started to take notice and had begun to address some of the rioters grievances by looking into the problems here in West Wales. As a result they now moved away from violent tactics to holding mass meetings, like this one mentioned. Other factors included the metering out of harsh punishments,as rioters were caught and sentenced to transportation, what with the arrival of troops, and the increasing use of informants with the offer of financial rewards or the capture of the rioters leaders, to crush the rebellion,helped play a part too in the change of direction to a more moderate approach.
One of the last of Rebecca’s attacks in Llanelli came on Saturday 30th September 1843, when she removed the Tyrfran Tollgate on the road to Felinfoel and dropped it down the shaft of a nearby coal pit. Social conditions began to change over the decade. Improvements in the laws controlling turnpikes came to pass in 1844, and the coming of the railway eased many of the transport problems in west Wales. People could move more easily to find work and this helped reduce pressure in rural areas for jobs. The ending of the Corn Laws in 1846, and attempts in 1847 to make the Poor Law less cruel, also helped.
The name 'Rebecca' though lived on. Over the years the Rebecca Riots have become part of the cultural identity of the Welsh, fuelling the idea of the werin/folk fighting for their rights, standing against tyranny and oppression.
In the 1860s and 70s local people protesting against the sale of fishing rights to outside interests in mid-Wales used the name again in their protests, as did farmers in the past fifteen years or so protesting about policies in agriculture. When the local community bought to right to levy tolls at a surviving toll in Porthmadog in the 1990s, they named it Rebecca and gave the money raised to local charities
Sadly though, the summit of Mynydd Sylen is an unloved one, with ugly masts, tatty barbed wire fences and rubbish at the nearest parking spot, rather disheartening considering its historical significance
In a report published today, the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) a notoriously right wing pro-Tory thinktank and lobbying group based in the United Kingdom, named after Adam Smith, a Scottish moral philosopher and classical economist, proved how little conservatives truly understand about the real-world problems faced by young people in Britain today. In it's report, dubbed the ‘Millennial Manifesto‘, they suggest that in order to win back votes from young people who voted for Jeremy Corbyn in June, the Tories should make flights to Ibiza cheaper by scrapping Air Passenger Duty for under 30s, and that they should also legalise drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine. You really couldn't make it up, opportunist to say the least. In the Manifesto, it states: “If these recreational drugs were legalised, young people would be brought back into the framework of society, instead of feeling it is out to oppress them and spoil their pleasures. “It would enable quality controls to be established so that young people could be assured that what they were taking was what they expected it to be, instead of being adulterated, perhaps with toxins, or supplied in unregulated massive overdoses.” Other perceived policy wins for those trying to engage with young people and take on Jeremy Corbyn include cutting National Insurance for the under 25s from 12% to 8%, replacing student loans with a graduate tax and a 50% council tax discount for young people. Sam Bowman, Executive Director of the Adam Smith Institute, said: “It isn’t easy being young in Britain.Reading through certain sections of the report, it’s easy to see why young people feel a huge disconnect between themselves and those in the media and political establishment. Especially when they write about young people like they are a different species from another planet: "Many young people take recreational drugs. Occasionally some of them smoke a cannabis spliff with friends. Many of them pop an ecstasy tablet to help them enjoy late night dancing at a club. Some of them try amphetamines or snort a line of cocaine. Consumption of any of these drugs is currently against the law. Indeed, two of them, ecstasy and cocaine, are class A drugs with severe penalties attached to their use." "Young people seem to want to do the things that for decades have been part of young people’s way of life, with the added possibilities and opportunities that modern technology and new developments make possible. Most of them want to socialize with friends, both in person and on social media, to enjoy music and travel, perhaps to work abroad for a spell. Some want to engage with friends in recreational pursuits such as sporting activities. Many enjoy attending concerts, or simply hanging out with their peers over a few drinks." The report then goes on to slam the Tories for ignoring ‘the concerns of young voters’, as well as both: "neglecting their wellbeing directly and taking positions that are badly out of touch in areas like animal welfare and openness to immigration." If the Tories are actually looking to produce policies that will really resonate with young people, rather than listening to organisations like the Adam Smith Institute, why don’t they actually try listening to the views of actual young people. The document provides very few truly beneficial solutions to many of the huge problems faced by youngsters today, such as lack of affordable housing, low wages, lack of job security, and a huge rise in the cost of education. And for many young people, the impact of austerity means that “partying in Ibiza” is not a top priority. A report by The Prince’s Trust found that 'young people’s happiness and wellbeing are at their lowest levels since the study was first commissioned in 2009.' It is safe to say that the “Millenial Manifesto” has taken a bit of a battering on social media. Scores of people have tweeted about the suggestions for winning over young people ,labelling the ideas as “clueless” - with a series of hilarious memes mocking the ideas involved. Emma Burnell wrote: “Wow the Adam Smith Institute are clueless. How addled do you have to be to think the key problem young people face is taxes on airfares?” Allan Faulds tweeted: “Gotta love the Adam Smith Institute. How old and/or posh do you have to be to think “cut the Ibiza Tax!” is going to win over youth vote?”Labour MP told Huffington Post UK http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/adam-smith-institute-tory-youth-vote-ibiza-tax-on-flights_uk_599deb9ae4b0821444c08cc8that the plan was a "laughable failure to understand what young people actually care about." Smith said: "Having spoken to hundreds of young people over this summer I can say that of all their demands from government, from the crisis in mental services to huge personal debts from study, no one has raised Air Passenger Duty with me."
16 years on from the beginning of the War on Terror. British taxpayers' money is continuing to fund bombing and killing in the Middle East. Over a million have died in Iraq alone. Many thousands have died or have been maimed in other countries that Britain has intervened in, War is still raging in Asghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Millions have had to flee their homes. Meanwhile, while spending our money on foreign wars, the British establishment is continuing with its programme of crippling cuts to public services.
The British government has also admitted that it is providing technical and other assistance to the Saudi government in its hideous bombing campaign in Yemen, which has killed thousands of people including thousands of civilians. Moreover it has sold more than £3 billion worth of arms to the Saudi dictatorship , in contravention of international law since the bombardment began.
But the tide is now beginning to turn, as anti-war politics are gaining increasing power and influence in British political life .Jeremy Corbyn is right to warn Theresa May's government not to 'obediently applaud ' Washington's planned escalation of the war in Afghanistan. A war that has failed with such devastating human cost, that hs only served to increase the terrorist threat.
Let's reject the idea that war is either admirable or good. Let's reverse the militarization of so many dimensions of our society. Arms Fairs are crucial to the smooth-running of the arms trade. They promote weapons sales by giving arms dealers the chance to meet and greet military delegations, government officials, other arms companies and a host of individual visitors.
Unsurprisingly, the guest lists for arms fairs frequently include regimes who abuse human rights, and countries actively involved in armed conflicts. Say no to companies that profit from human misery.
Join the week of action to Stop the Arms Fair at London’s Docklands, 4th-11th September, 2017. https://www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk/join-in/
Here are some words from the musician and activist Brian Eno :-
'Fear is a great paralyser. A frightened population is easy to govern. In a climate of fear, people are willing to allow their rights and freedoms to be limited. They’re willing to follow orders and penalise resisters. They’re willing to fall for easy, quick and ill-conceived military ‘solutions’. They’re willing to serve as defenders of the state without asking why that state needs defending, or from what.
So it’s fear that keeps the hamster-wheel turning; but it’s hope that... will get us out of the cage.
Stopping war means building a society based not on relentless consumption and profiteering but instead on sustainability and conservation and sharing. It means making a world that is worth saving for everybody, so that the idea of war - of destroying all that - becomes unthinkable, ridiculous.' -
