Today is Dawood al-Marhoon’s 25th birthday. It’s his sixth on death row in Saudi Arabia. Dawood was just a 17 year old boy when he was arrested for
allegedly participating in an anti-government protest. He was tortured
and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his
‘confession’. Ultimately Dawood was sentenced to death by beheading. He
could be executed at any moment, without prior notification.
As a teenager, Dawood was sociable and popular. He loved playing
football and computer games. He excelled in his studies, and dreamed of
pursuing his love for technology and computers by studying a degree in
engineering. Thousands of young Saudis took to the streets demanding
reform across the Kingdom in Arab Spring protests from February 2011, –
Dawood was allegedly one of them.
He was questioned by Saudi police and asked to “spy” on protesters.
After he refused, Saudi security forces arrested him from the Dammam
Central Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for an eye injury
sustained in a traffic accident. Saudi forces surrounded the hospital
and arrested him as he prepared for surgery.
Dawood was transferred to a juvenile offenders’ facility, where he
was held incommunicado for nearly two weeks. During this time, he was
tortured and abused. While still a child, he was beaten and kicking,
trampled, and verbally abused. At least one interrogation session lasted
for 18 hours.
The Saudi authorities tortured him for weeks and refused to allow him
to communicate with anyone on the outside world. For two weeks,
Dawood’s family had no idea where Saudi authorities were holding him,
and he was prevented from speaking to a lawyer.
The investigators made him sign a blank document that would later
contain his confession to the crime of attending anti-government
protests, and association with fellow young protester Ali Mohammed Al-Nimr..
He was held for one year and four months before being transferred to
the General Department of Investigations headquarters in Dammam. All
access to legal counsel was denied during this period.
On 21 October 2014, after a total of seven hearings he was sentenced
to death by beheading by Saudi Arabia’s widely criticized Specialized
Criminal Court (SCC).
Throughout his time in detention and during his trial, Saudi
authorities prevented Dawood from speaking with a lawyer. Reprieve
understands that the Public Prosecution requested death by crucifixion.
The decision was appealed but the lawyers were not informed of any
further trial proceedings. On 29 September 2015, the SCC confirmed the
death sentence of death by beheading against Dawood.
In late September 2015, the Saudi authorities transferred Dawood from
Dammam prison to Riyadh’s Al-Hayir prison, where he is being kept in
solitary confinement with other people facing execution. Secrecy
surrounding Saudi’s execution practices prevents the family or the
prisoner from receiving prior notification of when the execution will be
carried out, so Dawood could now be executed at any time.
The human rights crisis in Saudi Arabia is getting worse despite promises of reform.
In 2019,there was a total of 184 executions in the Kingdom. There has
been an exponential rise in executions in the kingdom since 2015.
Saudi
Arabia systematically discriminates against its minority citizens and to
whomever is deemed a threat to the regime. Of those who are targeted by
the Saudi police are political activists, Shia, women’s rights
activists, and critics of the monarchy. More recently, 37 people were executed for allegedly spying for Iran and participating in anti-government demonstrations in the year 2019, including at least three who were children at the time of their alleged
offences, just like Dawood
It is important to condemn the
alarming escalation in the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, and the unjust actions practiced, which clearly violate
international fair trial standards, to extract confessions from their
prisoners. The Saudi government must immediately release Dawood and
provide him compensation for his unjust imprisonment, as well as release
all prisoners on death row arrested and charged on spurious political
charges. Dawood's situation is urgent.Many others, too numerous to be named, have also been sentenced to death
on ambiguous charges and following unfair trials. The reality is, more
and more violations of the right to life will occur without action. Let's not forget them .
Saudi Arabia continues to use
the death penalty as a tool of repression for non-violent and political
activities, with children among the many executed. This
systematic and flagrant disregard for basic human rights and respect for
the rule of law must be addressed by the international community.Global pressure must be applied to convince Saudi Arabia to uphold
international human rights standards, and place a moratorium on any
further death sentences and executions. Such actions , as both Reprieve and Amnesty International /have noted, are a brazen violation of international human rights law. https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/
Take action here :- https://act.reprieve.org.uk/page/content/saudiexecutions
Poet and educator Melvin Beaunoris who inspired generations of students to stand up for equal rights and dignity. was born in Missouri on 6 February 1898. one of four children of Reverend Alonzo Tolson, a Methodist
minister, and Lera (Hurt) Tolson, a seamstress of African-Creek
ancestry. Alonzo Tolson was also of mixed race, the son of an enslaved
woman and her white master. He served at various churches in the
Missouri and Iowa area until settling longer in Kansas City. Reverend
Tolson studied throughout his life to add to the limited education he
had first received, even taking Latin, Greek and Hebrew by
correspondence courses. Both parents emphasized education for their
children.
In 1924 he
began teaching at the historically black Wiley College in Marshall,
Texas. His students included James Farmer, founder of the Congress of
Racial Equality, and Heman Sweatt, who challenged the segregated
University of Texas Law School. He encouraged his students not only to be well-rounded people but to
also to stand up for their rights.
He not only taught at Wiley College, he coached the junior varsity
football team, directed the theater club, cofounded the black
intercollegiate Southern Association of Dramatic Speech and Arts, and
organized the Wiley Forensic Society, which was the Wiley College
debating club. The debating club earned national acclaim by winning and breaking the color barrier very successfully. A dedicated mentor, Tolson coached
Wiley's debate team through an impressive ten-year winning streak, from 1929 to 1939. Tolson
wrote all of the speeches and the team memorized the speeches and used
them. Tolson became such a master debater, that he would write the
rebuttals for his opponents opposing arguments before the debate. In
1935, they defeated the national champions from the University of
Southern California. Under Jim Crow segregation, African Americans did not often meet elite white schools in
competition, so the team's success symbolized progress and equality. The
film The Great Debaters depicted this David-and-Goliath story with Tolson portrayed by Denzel Washington.
After interviewing significant artists of the Harlem Renaissance for his
Master’s thesis, Tolson was inspired to write poetry exploring the
African American urban experience. His poetry began appearing in African/ American newspapers in the 1930s. In 1939 he published his first significant poem Dark Symphony; celebrating the accomplishments of the African race throughout history,while detailing the challenges they continued to face. it would win a national poetry contest sponsored by the American Negro
Exposition. The poem was later published in Atlantic Monthly; the poem
also got the attention of an editor who published his first collection
of verse, Rendezvous with America, in 1944.
In 1947, Tolson was accused of having been active in organizing farm
laborers and tenant farmers during the late 1930s (though the nature of
his activities is unclear) and of having radical leftist associations, but after maintaining a successful teaching and coaching career at Wiley, Tolson accepted a position at Langston University .in Langston, Oklahoma. During that same year, he was appointed the Poet Laureate of Liberia, which inspired his second poetry book. Published in 1953, Libretto for the Republic of Liberia,
honored the centennial of Liberia’s founding. Tolson's greatest achievement, Liberia had been
founded in 1822 as part of a long-running and controversial debate about
whether to establish an African homeland for former slaves. By the time
Tolson came to write his poem, however, the question he faced was
rather different. What symbolic and cultural meaning did Liberia's
founding now have for blacks here and across the world? In seeking an
answer, reflecting on the history of slavery and writing while the
memory of World War II and of the evil of European fascism was still
fresh, Tolson came to major conclusions about the shape of Western
civilization through the prism's of his dense, allusive poem.
In addition to his
professional work, Tolson served two consecutive terms as Mayor of
Langston, in Langston, Oklahoma from 1954 to 1960. Tolson’s final poetry book, Harlem Gallery, published in 1965, helped establish him as a widely recognized modernist poet, his masterpiece chronicles, as he put it,
black Americans' "New World odyssey, / from chattel to Esquire!
President
Lyndon Johnson invited Tolson to the White House in 1965 to present his
latest poetry, a crowning achievement in his long and remarkable
career. Tolson died the following year in Dallas on Augusr 29 after undergoing surgery for cancer, having left a legacy to be proud of.
The Library of Congress
holds the papers of Melvin B. Tolson, which include correspondence,
drafts of writings, speeches, research notes, and materials relating to
Tolson's literary career, the Harlem Renaissance, and other aspects of
African American art, literature, and culture.
After Tolson's death, Langston University in
Oklahoma began an archive of African American culture and literature
that bore his name. Today, that collection has grown into the Melvin B. Tolson Black Heritage Center.
The Center houses over 7,000 volumes related to African American newspapers and periodicals. With increasing interest in Tolson and his literary period, in 1999 the University of Virginia published a collection of his poetry entitled Harlem Gallery and Other Poems of Melvin B. Tolson, edited by Raymond Nelson.
In the following poem "A Song for Myself," the narrator discusses the human soul.
Those who are bad men cannot escape the afterlife. In death, there is
truth. If the person is a bad person in life and has a bad soul, they
will be condemned in the afterlife. The narrator hopes he has a good
enough soul to have a good afterlife.
A Song For Myself - Melvin B. Tolson
I judge
My soul
Eagle
Nor mole:
A man
Is what
He saves
From rot.
The corn
Will fat
A hog
Or rat:
Are these
Dry bones
A hut's
Or throne's?
Who filled
The moat
Twixt sheep
And goat?
Let Death,
The twin
of Life,
Slip in?
Prophets
Arise,
Mask-hid,
Unwise,
Divide
The earth
By class
and birth.
Caesars
Without,
The People
Shall rout;
Caesars
Within,
Crush flat
As tin.
Who makes
A noose
Envies
The goose.
Who digs
A pit
Dices
For it.
Shall tears
Be shed
For those
Whose bread
Is thieved
Headlong?
Tears right
No wrong.
Prophets
Shall teach
The meek
To reach.
Leave not
To God
The boot
And rod.
The straight
Lines curve?
Failure
Of nerve?
Blind-spots
Assail?
Times have
Their Braille.
If hue
Of skin
Trademark
A sin,
Blame not
The make
For God's
Mistake.
Since flesh
And bone
Turn dust
And stone,
With life
So brief,
Why add
To grief?
I sift
The chaff
From wheat
and laugh.
No curse
Can stop
The tick
Of clock.
Those who
Wall in
Themselves
And grin
Commit
Incest
And spawn
A pest.
What's writ
In vice
Is writ
In ice.
The truth
Is not
Of fruits
That rot.
A sponge,
The mind
Soaks in
The kind
Of stuff
That fate's
Milieu
Dictates.
Jesus,
Mozart,
Shakespeare,
Descartes,
Lenin,
Chladni,
Have lodged
With me.
I snatch
From hooks
The meat
Of books.
I seek
Frontiers,
Not worlds
On biers.
The snake
Entoils
The pig
With coils.
The pig's
Skewed wail
Does not
Prevail.
Old men
Grow worse
With prayer
Or curse:
Their staffs
Thwack youth
Starved thin
For truth.
Today
The Few
Yield poets
Their due;
Tomorrow
The Mass
Judgment
Shall pass.
I harbor
One fear
If death
Crouch near:
Does my
Creed span
The Gulf
Of Man?
And when
I go
In calm
Or blow
From mice
And men,
Selah!
What . . . then?
The “Mother of the Civil Rights
Movement,” Rosa Parks, who sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott on
December 5, 1955, was born on this day in 1913. Rosa Louise McCauley was born in
Tuskegee, Alabama, her parents, James and Leona McCauley, separated when Parks was
two. Parks’ mother moved the family to Pine Level, Alabama, to live with
her parents, Rose and Sylvester Edwards. Both of Parks' grandparents
were former slaves and strong advocates for racial equality; the family
lived on the Edwards' farm, where Parks would spend her youth.
Parks'
childhood brought her early experiences with racial discrimination and
activism for racial equality. In one experience, Parks' grandfather
stood in front of their house with a shotgun while Ku Klux Klan members
marched down the street, and listened in fear as lynchings occurred near her
home.
The family moved to Montgomery;
Parks attended various segregated schools in Montgomery before attending
a laboratory school for secondary education led by the Alabama State
Teachers College for Negroes. Shortly after starting secondary school,
Parks left to take care of her grandmother who was sick. She married barber Raymond Parks in 1932, aged 19 and the couple
joined the the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Montgomery chapter where she would eventually serve as secretary. Parks is famously known for her refusal to obey bus driver James Blake’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. standing in the aisle on
December 1, 1955.The Montgomery City Code required that all public transportation be
segregated and that bus drivers had the "powers of a police officer of
the city while in actual charge of any bus for the purposes of carrying
out the provisions" of the code. While operating a bus, drivers were
required to provide separate but equal accommodations for white and
black passengers by assigning seats.
This was accomplished with a
line roughly in the middle of the bus separating white passengers in
the front of the bus and African American passengers in the back. When
an African American passenger boarded the bus, they had to get on at the
front to pay their fare and then get off and re-board the bus at the
back door.
As the bus Parks was riding continued on its route, it
began to fill with white passengers. Eventually, the bus was full and
the driver noticed that several white passengers were standing in the
aisle. The bus driver stopped the bus and moved the sign separating the
two sections back one row, asking four black passengers to give up their
seats.
The city's bus ordinance didn't specifically give drivers
the authority to demand a passenger to give up a seat to anyone,
regardless of color. However, Montgomery bus drivers had adopted the
custom of moving back the sign separating black and white passengers
and, if necessary, asking black passengers to give up their seats to
white passengers. If the black passenger protested, the bus driver had
the authority to refuse service and could call the police to have them
removed.
Three of the other black passengers on the bus complied
with the driver, but Parks refused and remained seated. The driver
demanded, "Why don't you stand up?" to which Parks replied, "I don't
think I should have to stand up." The driver called the police and had
her arrested.
The police arrested Parks at the scene and charged her with violation of
Chapter 6, Section 11, of the Montgomery City Code. She was taken to
police headquarters, where, later that night, she was released on bail. Four days later, Parks was tried on charges of disorderly conduct and
violating a local ordinance. The trial lasted 30 minutes. Parks was
found guilty and fined $10, plus $4 in court costs. Parks not only
appealed her conviction, she formally challenged the legality of
racial segregation.
Members of the African American community were asked to stay off city
buses on Monday, December 5, 1955 , the day of Parks' trial, in protest
of her arrest. People were encouraged to stay home from work or school,
take a cab or walk to work. With most of the African American community
not riding the bus, organizers believed a longer boycott might be
successful. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/montgomery-bus-boycott.html ,
as it came to be known, was a huge success, lasting for 381 days and
ending with a Supreme Court ruling declaring segregation on public
transit systems to be unconstitutional. And Rosa's act of dignified defiance and courage triggered a wave of protest that reverberated
throughout the United States.
Contrary to some reports, Parks wasn’t physically tired and was able to
leave her seat. She refused, on principle, to surrender her seat because
of her race, which was the law in Montgomery at the time.
The
NAACP realized it had the right person to work with, as it battled
against the system of segregation in Montgomery. It also worked with
another group of local leaders to stage a one-day boycott of passenger
buses, when Parks went to court.The
group expanded to include other people, chose a name, the Montgomery
Improvement Association, and planned an extended boycott.
But the MIA also needed a public spokesman with leadership qualities to
make their fight into a wide-ranging cause.Their pick was a little-known
pastor who had recently arrived in Montgomery: Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.
In June 1956, the district court declared racial segregation laws
(also known as "Jim Crow laws") unconstitutional. The city of Montgomery
appealed the court's decision shortly thereafter, but on November 13,
1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling, declaring
segregation on public transport to be unconstitutional.
With the
transit company and downtown businesses suffering financial loss and the
legal system ruling against them, the city of Montgomery had no choice
but to lift its enforcement of segregation on public buses, and the
boycott officially ended on December 20, 1956. The combination of legal
action, backed by the unrelenting determination of the African American
community, made the Montgomery Bus Boycott one of the largest and most
successful mass movements against racial segregation in history.
Rosa for many years after would
continue as an activist in the movement for the rights of exploited
people.Facing continued harassment and threats in the wake of the
boycott,and after losing her tailoring job and receiving death threats.
Parks, along with her husband and mother, eventually decided to move to
Detroit, where Parks’ brother resided.
In the years following her retirement, she traveled to lend her
support to civil-rights events and causes and wrote an autobiography,
“Rosa Parks: My Story.”
She remained an active member of the NAACP and became an administrative
aide in the Detroit office of Congressman John Conyers Jr. a
post she held until her 1988 retirement..
The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute Of Self-Development was established
in 1987 to offer job training for black youth.
In 1999, Parks received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, the
highest honor a civilian can receive in the United States. The Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) also sponsors an annual Rosa
Parks Freedom Award.
Her husband, brother and mother
all died of cancer between 1977 and 1979.
When she died at age 92 on October 24, 2005, she
became the first woman in the nation’s history to lie in state at the
U.S. Capitol. At
the time, she was only the 30th person accorded that honor. She was the
first woman to receive the honor, and her coffin sat on the catafalque
built for the coffin of Abraham Lincoln.
Rosa passed away October 24, 2005 at the age of 92. City officials in
Montgomery and Detroit announced on October 27, 2005 that the front
seats of their city buses would be reserved with black ribbons in honor
of Parks until her funeral. Today Rosa Parks’ legacy continues to live
on in honor of her historic acts of courage. Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested, December 1,
have both become Rosa Parks Day, commemorated in the U.S. states of
California and Ohio. Her monumental efforts were recognized when she won a Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.
In 2000, a library and museum in Montgomery were dedicated to Rosa Parks. The Rosa Parks Museum https://www.troy.edu/rosaparks/ houses
a replica of the bus that sparked the civil rights activists to boycott
an important mode of transportation. The library and children's wing
not only tell the story of Parks to its hundreds of visitors, but also
those of Nixon, Gray, and Colvin. There is a "time travel" machine that
transports the visitors from the 1800s to the Jim Crowe era and to 1950s
Montgomery.
Let us remember her today, and acknowledge Rosa's act of quiet
resistance, that still resonates down the corridors of time. She remains
a symbol to all to remain free. It is worth noting that in the same
week President Obama honored Rosa Parks’ 100th birthday, Israel
announced two newly segregated bus lines for Palestinian workers
traveling to Israel from the West Bank. The “Palestinian only” buses
were introduced after Israeli settlers complained that fellow
Palestinian passengers posed a “security risk.”The timing of Israel’s
announcement set the internet abuzz with
moralizing references to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Jim Crow.
Let us also think what would happen if a Palestinian Rosa Parks chose
to sit on a segregated West Bank Bus, Palestinians in the present moment
are unable to travel freely in their own country - they even have to
have permits to enter Jerusalem.
"Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that
degrades human personality is unjust," Martin Luther King said "All segregation
statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages
the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority
and the segregated a false sense of inferiority."
Like Rosa Parks before her, Palestinians are struggling against
unjust laws, in their case the injustice of a 50-year military occupation
that denies Palestinians their land, right to travel and
self-determination. Israel maintains an apartheid system of democracy
for Israeli Jews - and discrimination against Israelis of colour -
second-class citizenship for Israeli citizens of Arab descent, and
dispossession and disenfranchisement for Palestinian Arabs in the
territories.
We need more brave souls like Rosa Parks, because as history has shown.it is possible
for a single person to engage in an act of resistance against
oppression that can park the seed of change. On this day, Parks would have been 107 years old. As Rosa Parks once said, “Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.
The Neville Brothers - Sister Rosa
December 1, 1955
Our freedom movement came alive
And because of Sister Rosa you know
We don’t ride on the back of the bus no more
Sister Rosa she was tired one day
After a hard day on her job
When all she wanted was a well deserved rest
Not a scene from an angry mob
A bus driver said, "Lady, you got to get up
'Cause a white person wants that seat"
But Miss Rosa said, "No, not no more
I’m gonna sit here and rest my feet"
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks
Now, the police came without fail
And took Sister Rosa off to jail
And 14 dollars was her fine
Brother Martin Luther King knew it was our time
The people of Montgomery sat down to talk
It was decided all God's children should walk
Until segregation was brought to its knees
And we obtain freedom and equality, yeah
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks
So we dedicate this song to thee
For being the symbol of our dignity
Thank you Sister Rosa
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks
After Farage twit and Widdecombe
Waved their joke shop little flags,
And others cried and held hands
In excruciating cringeworthy scenes,.
Singing Auld Lang Syne
With not a whiff of dignity,
Not in my name many declaring
Of this tin pot slippery shower,
In these moments of separation
A shocking disgrace to the nation,
As relationship with EU remains uncertain
Many still hoping, this not the final curtain,
The idea that Brexit will solve what's wrong
Will be revealed as fantasy through and through,
In peoples hearts, hope remains, but others fearing
What will happen next, as history is wiped away,
Painfully questioning what now has been decided
The rising tide of xenophobia closing in on our shore,
Afraid of nationalism, egotism, infused perfusion
Hatred and division mongering instead of kindness.
President Donald Trump claims his peace plan for Israel and Palestine will prove to be a triumph that will last for the next 80 years. But it’s unclear whether it will be viable for even 80 minutes.
That’s because most analysts believe the deal which was finally released on Tuesday — is dead on arrival, because upending
decades of bipartisan policy, the proposal gives American endorsement to
Israeli annexation of broad swaths of the West
Bank and limits Palestinian territorial contiguity. Trump's initiative, whose principal author is his son-in-law Jared
Kushner, follows a long line of efforts to resolve one of the world's
most intractable issues. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in
2014. Palestinians have refused to engage the Trump administration
and denounced its proposal's first stage - a $50bn economic revival plan
announced last June.
The White House’s peace plan which has a four year implementation period came complete with one hundred and eighty pages as well as a map outlining the proposed new Israeli and Palestinian states. recognises Israeli sovereignty over major illegal settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank,
something to which the Palestinians will almost certainly object. Trump
said Israel would be granted security control of the Jordan Valley in
the occupied West Bank. The blueprint would also permit Israel to extend sovereignty over all
major settlements blocs in the West Bank, uphold Jerusalem as “Israel’s
undivided capital,” The plan would also see a Palestinian state with its capital in “eastern
Jerusalem”, though in an area cut off from much of the city by an
Israeli military barrier.
Palestinians reject any proposal that would not see a Palestinian
capital in all of East Jerusalem, which includes the walled Old City and
numerous sites holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians.Palestinian officials havecut off communication with the U,S after it recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in late 2017. Israeli
settlements in the West Bank would also be allowed to stay where they are.and require the Palestinians to concede far more
land to Israel than in past proposals..
Trump
described the plan as a "win-win opportunity for both sides,".but the agreement that he has promoted as the
"ultimate deal" amounts to a two-way pact between Trump and Netanyahu. and seems consistent with the US administration’s
approach of granting unilateral concessions to Israel while further isolating
the Palestinians. The Palestinians were not consulted. It's a dictate of take it or leave it. But to hear Trump tell it, he has brokered the most
important diplomatic breakthroughs not just of his presidency but of
modern history.
“It’s been a long and very arduous process to arrive at
this moment,” Trump said in a speech at the White House Tuesday,
standing next to a smiling Netanyahu. “All prior administrations from
President Lyndon Johnson have tried and bitterly failed, but I was not
elected to do small things or shy away from big problems.” Netanyahu, for his part, was thrilled with the outcome.
Analysts say the deal should be understood as two friends lending each other a hand at a sensitive time in their political careers.Trump is currently embroiled in impeachment proceedings, and in November Netanyahu was indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust."Trump
and Netanyahu care more about electoral politics at home and less about
real peace with the Palestinians," said Fawaz Gerges, a professor of
international relations at the London School of Economics and Political
Science.
"It resembles a colonial
arrangement of a bygone era," he added, comparing the impending deal to
past secret agreements that divided parts of the Middle East among
European powers and promised the Jewish community a home in historic
Palestine.
Even before the details were released,
protests rejecting it were already in full swing in Gaza and
Palestinians had called for a "Day of Rage" on Wednesday in the West
Bank.
"The deal of the century, which is
not based on international legality and law, gives Israel everything it
wants at the expense of the national rights of the Palestinian people,"
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said in opening the
Palestinian Authority's weekly Cabinet meeting in Ramallah on Sunday.
After the announcement, Palestinians took to social media
to react, comment and at times mock the plan. Often dubbed the "deal of
the century" Palestinians referred to it as the "the slap of the
century". The hashtags #NoToTrumpPlan and #No4DealOfCentury trended on Twitter. "It is a slap and not a deal," wrote one Twitter user, "down with the slap of the century and long live a free Palestine."
The objective of any peace proposal for Israelis and Palestinians should
be to resolve the conflict in a manner that can be accepted by both
sides. Unfortunately, the Trump plan is not actually designed to do so.
Rather, it serves as an annexation roadmap,
whereby Israel receives U.S. support to apply sovereignty immediately
to all settlements in the West Bank.The deal not only discards long-held assumptions about how the
conflict will be resolved, it was constructed with only the input of one
party, Israel, making it a fait accompli that the Palestinians would
not consider it. The Trump plan is not a realistic
effort to bring a permanent status agreement to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, and it should not be viewed as such.It is a a recipe for permanent occupation and endless conflict and is dishonest, inhumane and unjust.
Trump has taken what was already an Israel-centric foreign policy to an
extreme:In addition to moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, the Trump
administration has also slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in
humanitarian aid to the Palestinians and recognised Israeli sovereignty
over the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, in addition the United States has reversed its position and contradicted
international law on the illegality of Israeli settlements, the Trump administration in November reversed decades of US policy
when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington no longer
regarded Israeli settlements on occupied West Bank land as inconsistent
with international law. It’s absurd to think that Trump has any credibility or
interest in true peace. .
The only
sustainable solution is a viable two-state outcome. While Trump paid lip
service to a two-state solution, the plan does not promote any
recognizable two-state vision. Although the president
rhetorically acknowledged the necessity of Palestinian independence and
self-determination, a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian
state, and a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem, the details do not
actually contain any of those critical elements. Palestinian freedom isn’t for Trump to give away or for Netanyahu to steal. What the Palestinians are being offered right now is not rights or a
state, but a permanent state of Apartheid. No amount of marketing can
erase this disgrace or blur the facts. Many Human rights advocates see the plan as a rubber stamp or the Israeli governmeny's continuing violations of interntaional law, seperate and unequal policies, land grabs and human rights abuses against the Palestinian people. Any attempt to address the Israeli-Palestinian issue that does not begin and end with the full acknowledgement of the Palesestinian right to self-determination , freedom, justice and equality is quite simply a non-starter.
The plan also explicitly states that there shall be no “right
to return” for the millions of Palestinians forced out of their
ancestral homes during the formation of the Israeli state. The 1948 war uprooted 700,000 Palestinians from their
homes, creating a refugee crisis that is still not resolved.
Palestinians call this mass eviction the Nakba , Arabic for
“catastrophe”, and its legacy remains one of the most intractable
issues in ongoing peace negotiations.
Today, there are more than 7 million
Palestinian refugees, defined as people displaced in 1948 and their
descendants. This population has long languished in a variety of refugee camps, without rights or decent life conditions.A core Palestinian demand in peace negotiations is some
kind of justice for these refugees, most commonly in the form of the
“right of return” to the homes their families abandoned at the time.The failure to address this issue in a responsible manner is both a deficiency in the current proposal. and a tragic humanitarian evasion..
The only plan that can genuinely offer peace, is one that delivers. a future not based on
supremacy for some and oppression for others, but on full equality,
liberty, dignity, and rights for all.
Happy birthday to Robert Wyatt. a founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine. Born on the 28th of January 1945 in Bristol, Wyatt was brought up first in London and later in
Kent. Wyatt’s love of jazz, wordplay and surreal
humour stemmed from his father, George Ellidge and Wyatt grew up as part
of a “Bohemian” household that loved music, literature and travel.
Wyatt’s parents were part of the literary circle of the poet Robert
Graves and the young Wyatt spent several summers at Graves’ home in
Majorca.
It was at grammar school in Canterbury that Wyatt first encountered
bassist Hugh Hopper and Mike Ratledge who would eventually become his
bandmates in Soft Machine. Another influential figure was the legendary Australian
beatnik Daevid Allen (of Planet Gong fame) who lodged with Wyatt’s family and nurtured the
young Robert’s interest in modern and avant garde jazz Miles Davis,
Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor and Thelonious Monk were all early Wyatt
heroes.
Soft Machine grew out of the Wilde Flowers, the now almost
legendary spawning ground for both Caravan and Soft Machine. At various
times Wilde Flowers involved Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Brian Hopper, Kevin
Ayers, Richard Sinclair, Dave Sinclair and Richard Coughlan, the last
three ending up in Caravan.
Wyatt moved to London, living in a communal house and forming a group
with Daevid Allen, Kevin Ayers and Mike Ratledge. Originally named
Mister Head they adopted the name Soft Machine from the title of the
novel by Beat Generation author William Burroughs who famously gave the
young Brits his blessing to use the name by drawling “can’t see why
not”.
Allen had left before the recording of the first album which was
released in 1968 by which time the Softs were the darlings of the London
underground music scene playing all nighters at the UFO club alongside
Pink Floyd, their performances enhanced by the visuals of the Sensual
Laboratory lightshow.
The band also toured America supporting the Jimi Hendrix Experience
and Wyatt was much influenced by Mitch Mitchell’s drumming style. The
intense touring schedule proved a bit much for Ayers and Ratledge who
returned to England as soon as they could but Wyatt stayed on in the
states until his visa ran out, recording with Hendrix on bass, the
sessions being released by Cuneiform Records as “RobertWyatt ‘68” some
thirty five years later. They still sound terrific.
A second Soft Machine album was recorded with Hugh Hopper replacing
Ayers on bass. With Wyatt now handling all the vocals “Volume 2” is
widely regarded as being among the band’s best. Originally recorded to
fulfil a contract its success saw Soft Machine continuing as a working
band but the tensions between Wyatt on one hand and Hopper and Ratledge
on the other began to grow. Famously ascetic and intellectual Hopper and
Ratledge favoured increasingly obtuse, complicated pieces, the
hedonistic and more spontaneous Wyatt still favoured song based works.
“Third”, a double set which added saxophonist Elton Dean to the line up
managed a successful compromise between the two approaches with Wyatt’s
side long “Moon In June” widely considered as a masterpiece.
Nonetheless the rift began to widen leaving Wyatt increasingly
frustrated, with Dean now on board he was effectively outnumbered three
to one and felt himself as being frozen out of his own group. “Fourth”
included no vocals whatsoever and for the first time Wyatt was
uninvolved in the writing process. It was all too much for him and he
quit, the resulting bitterness lasting for many years.
After leaving Soft Machine in these acrimonious circumstances he recorded two albums with his own group
Matching Mole, but Post-Soft Machine, two events changed him forever. In early 1972 he
met artist Alfreda Benge, who was to become his wife, muse and lyricist.
It also coincided with the beginning of Wyatt’s devotion to Communism,
with politics serving as “the missing protein” in his music. Then, in
1973, came the drunken fall from a fourth- floor window at an alcohol fuelled party that left Wyatt paralysed from
the waist down. The effect, he says, was truly liberating, in that it
narrowed his career choices and made him concentrate on being a singer.
He calls the accident a neat dividing line between adolescence and the
rest of his life: “Your youth is a period of maximum physical potential.
Suddenly being anchored to a wheelchair forces you to experience life
in a more abstract way. You become more reflective.”
For over forty years he has continued to make music from a wheelchair,
recording a series of acclaimed albums that have featured his talents as
a vocalist and songwriter as well as a player of keyboards, trumpet,
cornet and hand played percussion. Perhaps his most widely known
performance is his vocal on the song “Shipbuilding”, Wyatt’s singing
adding an almost unbearable poignancy to this commentary on the
Falklands War written by Clive Langer and with lyrics by Elvis Costello
Aside from
his expressionistic blend of free jazz, folk, classical and world music,
what truly sets Wyatt apart is his exquisite voice. Reedy and
tremulous, there’s a haunted vulnerability and disarming candour to his
singing, which his friend Brian Eno compares to “a poor innocent cast
into a complicated world”.
His instantly recognisable voice is likely to set off a
string of emotions and associations in the listener. Its unique beauty
has come to symbolise an empathy for anyone suffering a crisis, whether
personal, political, or both. Second, it is an instrument that conveys a
deep understanding of the folly and recklessness of our collective
behaviour. Third, it is one of the most soothing and restorative sounds
to be issued from the human soul. Somewhere along the line Wyatt has, unknowingly made the transition from wilful outsider to national treasure.
The sheer breadth of Wyatt’s solo work is dizzying. As an extension
of his modus operandi, he has reworked pieces by
such disparate artists as John Cage and The Monkees, and recorded with
Henry Cow, Eno, Phil Manzanera, Syd Barrett, Björk and Ryuichi Sakamoto,
to name but a few.
Stick a pin anywhere you like,from 1974’s Rock Bottom to 2007’s Comicopera, from Soft Machine’s 1968 debut to 2010’s three-way alliance with Gilad Atzmon and Ros Stephen, For The Ghosts Within,
and all of these albums are freighted with Wyatt’s rare brilliance. For
all the genre-hopping, Wyatt’s work occupies a distinct corner entirely
of its own.
In the course of making his solo albums, he suffered from depression and became increasingly alcoholic, even suicidal but then in 2007 he realised that liqour had truly become to much of a burden, so he enrolled at Alcoholics Anonymous and is now (in AA terms) a ''dry drunk". Drunk or sober, he has redefined the sound and scope of popular music and we are lucky to have him.
Unexpectedly in 2014 he announced that he was retiring from music, which was sad news for his many admirers because Wyatt has produced some of
the most strikingly original work of the past half century. His, he
says, is “an improvised life”. One fuelled by jazz, socialism and an
absurdist slant on the world around him.
Happy birthday to one of the most unusual and characterful musical adventurers of the last half century. Thank you, Robert Wyatt for being such an uncompromising, unique talent in
this insular, commodified world of ours and for creating such engaging, solidly original
music. a truly inspiring individual. If you do not know his work, please give these songs a listen.
Robert Wyatt - I'm a Believer
Robert Wyatt - Sea Song
Robert Wyatt -The Age of Self
Robert Wyatt - At Last I am Free
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding featuring Elvis Costello
Holocaust Memorial Day 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz Birkenau,the largest Nazi death camp in occupied Poland. when the true scale of what became known as the Holocaust, was first recognised. More than one million lives were systematically murdered in the gas chambers and other methods at Auschwitz alone. This year is not only a significant milestone but is made particularly poignant by the
dwindling number of survivors who are able to share their testimony.
The day aims to remind people of the crimes and loss of life and
encourage remembrance in a world scarred by genocide and prevent it
ever being forgotten. Alongside the 6 million jewish people who were murdered in the genocide in Europe leading up to 1945, the Nazis also targetted and persecuted many other groups, other victims encompassed trade unionists, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transpeople, (LGBT) black people, disabled people, the mentally ill, political opponents and 250,000 to 500,000 Roma and Sinti people, (between 25 and 50 percent of this minority;s entire population in Europe at the time,) who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the second world war,
The theme for HMD 2020 is Stand Together. It explores how genocidal regimes throughout history have
deliberately fractured societies by marginalising certain groups, and
how these tactics can be challenged by individuals standing together
with their neighbours, and speaking out against oppression and all forms of racism and discrimination. The Holocaust is not just a Jewish tragedy, but it is a lesson to all of
us of all faiths in all times and a continuing reminder to stand with
“others” when their rights and freedoms face attack.
In the years leading up to the Holocaust, Nazi policies and
propaganda deliberately encouraged divisions within German society –
urging ‘Aryan’ Germans to keep themselves separate from their Jewish
neighbours. The Holocaust, Nazi Persecution of other groups and each
subsequent genocide, was enabled by ordinary citizens not standing with
their targeted neighbours.
Let 's not forget that the Holocaust did not appear out of thin air, it was built on hatred for "the other," politically weaponized by those seeking ever more power. As politicians today say never again, some are walking doen that same path. Today there are still those that are stoking up increasing division in communities across the UK and
the world, antisemitism, racism and Islamophobia are on the.rise again. We must oppose attempts to divide us along the lines of race, religion or ethnicity.
Far right and fascist forces are growing. Many o them deny the horrors of the Holocaust. and are whipping up racist scapegoating. In Britain, we have also seen the systematic demonisation of migrants and Muslims, and a rise in hate crime, including increased incidences of antisemitic attacks in our communities.. Now more than ever, we need to stand together with others in
our communities in order to stop division and the spread of
identity-based hostility in our society.
Somehow human beings around the world are capable of so much hate, we
should work together to prevent this. Remember those who have resisted,
shown bravery and courage.Remember the victims of the Holocaust. We should remember them all.
Sadly we seem to forget from past pain and experience. There is still so
much to learn, we should stand united against genocide wherever it
occurs. We should never forget where hatred and bigotry can lead. There
can never be anytime for passivity, and we must stand strong against
the dark forces of intolerance, bigotry, racism and division that create them. .HMD also marks the 25th anniversary of the Genocide in Bosnia.
It is important that we do not forget, but if we look at history this
is not the only time that genocide has occurred, and history repeats.
Humanity continues to turn against itself.Yesterday for instance was Australia day or for many others Invasion
Day, when people remembered the terrible wrongs and crimes against the
aboriginal people, then there is Colombus Day on the 8th of October,
you see the list is endless.
Here is a list of some other places and people that the world sometimes forgets.
Cambodia,
Darfur,
Siebrenica,
Karabakh,
Liberia,
Sudan,
Holodonor,
Armenia, the ethnic cleansing of indigeneous Palestinians,
The Indigeneous Peoples of America,
Checknya,
Congo,
India
and the genocide of slavery
and on and on and on.
However we mark Holocaust Memorial Day, it is important to use the day
to sharpen our awareness and understanding of extremism and the deadly
violence it can licence. It is an opportunity to consider how hatred and
intolerance of others has taken many forms and a reminder of the need
to stand together in confronting the origins and workings of wickedness,
to exercise vigilance and to prevent atrocities from happening again in
the future and should strive to work for equality , peace and justice for the whole of mankind.
Sadly there will always be individuals, organisations and regimes who want to
exploit differences for their own ends and we must have the courage to
speak out where we see this happening. In a world which is increasingly fractured, where we have some leaders
that are more interested in promoting division than harmony, it is vital
we remember that there is far more that unites than divides the human
race, to prevent a repeat of the horrors of the past
First They Came - Pastor Martin Niemoller
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the Trade Unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade Unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left To speak out for me.
(Poem written by David discovered among files on his computer, that have been given permission to share, I happen to think it's damned good, and very evocative, so long friend ) We're Artists All - David Milligan (Spike)
Hush now, softly fall asleep,
Let's go to places where we can't weep,
Snuff out the candle, lock up the keep,
Take a chance, you must.
Forget about your diet dear,
Forget about false lover's tears,
Forget about your paranoid fears,
Forget the fuss.
The price of entry is your might,
Death, rebirth, dark and light,
No point in putting up a fight,
The time is here.
No longer can you turn your back;
Lonesome wolf without a pack,
On all those things your art form lacks,
Because they're clear.
To play guitar is microscopic,
To paint a picture panoramic,
But doing neither seems idiotic,
I think, you'll find.
It makes you grieve, you know it's true,
Create no beauty, this will not do!
What would you feel if your life was through?
Would you care?
But what of the million eyes,
That love to soak up your artistic prize?
Who won't create is telling lies!
By abstaining.
So kick yourself right up the arse!
You're not the first, nor even last!
Enough of this hedonistic fast,
Please, stop refraining.
The BBC in all their wisdom have decided to axe the Victoria Derbyshire show in an attempt to save money, blaming cuts. In an impassioned Twitter thread, hours after going on air to present her show, the 51-year-old broadcaster.Victoria Derbyshire responded to the BBC’s confirmation that her programme is to be taken off air later this year, saying that she only found out after reading about in Rupert Murdoch's The Times, rather than being informed by the BBC, her employer. "I'm unbelievably proud of what our team and our show have achieved in under five years breaking tonnes of original stories (which we were asked to do); attracting a working class, young, diverse audience that BBC radio & TV news progs just don't reach (which we were asked to do); and smashing the digital figures (which we were asked to do)."
She said she was "gutted particularly" for "all those people we gave a voice to, Love them too.".
Derbyshire spoke out as BBC director of news and current affairs Fran Unsworth told staff it had "not been an easy decision".
Victoria Derbyshire's show began in 2015 and broadcasts live on BBC Two and the BBC News channel every weekday from 10am. The programme won a Bafta in 2017 and has been nominated for several awards, including RTS Presenter of the Year.The show covered many controversial storiies that were not covered by the rest of the BBC, raising awareness and provoking conversation on so many difficult issues and was popular with a demographic which does not engage with shows like Newsnight. The BBC claims it can't afford to run the show anymore, which seems selective, considering the show has a much lower budget than many other less popular BBC programmes.has a much lower budget than many other, less popular BBC programmes.
Following news that Derbyshire's TV show is to be axed, there has been an outpouring of support for the award-winning BBC Two show. One viewer said it was a "life-saving programme" that had helped her when she was "so alone". Fans have called for Question Time to go instead - especially after actor Laurence Fox's appearance last week attracted more than 250 official complaints. The main issues cited in the complaints were that the "audience was not representative of the local area, leading to a pro-Conservative bias" and that the "discussion on racism [was] felt to be offensive"."Why cut this and not something useless and harmful to public discourse like Question Time?" asked Harry Samuels. The show's former editor, Louisa Compton, has described the cancellation as "madness", saying: "An organisation that values original journalism and under-served audiences should not be doing this."
Anna Collinson, who works on the show, said: "It's gutting for our viewers. The BBC is constantly criticised for failing under-served audiences - the same audiences we were proud to serve and served well. I have already heard from interviewees who are devastated by this news.
"We are a scrappy, feisty and passionate bunch and always did our absolute best to hold those in power to account.
"Whatever happens now, I will forever be proud of working for this award-winning programme and will never forget everything it taught me."
Shadow culture secretary Tracy Brabin has written a letter to BBC director general Lord Tony Hall, asking him to reconsider the decision. In a letter shared by Brabin on Twitter, she said that Derbyshire "is an incredible journalist and I am certain that she has a very bright broadcasting future in front of her regardless of what happens with the show in the coming months." while Conservative MP Damian Collins, who is bidding to be re-elected as chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said the reports were "disturbing".
"There needs to be a proper review of BBC finances as well as asking licence fee-payers what they value and want to see more of," he said. A petition demanding that the BBC reverse its decision to axe the Victoria Derbyshireshow has reached over 14, 000 signatures, the change.org campaign, launched on Wednesday by Katie Kendrick, “urgently” calls on the BBC to reconsider its decision.
It praises the show for giving voice to survivors of historical sexual abuse, poverty, mental health issues and the children’s care system.
Ms Kendrick writes: “This is VITAL journalism that brought with it campaigning and integrity to important social issues. It is a lifeline to ordinary people
“I was once a guest on the show and spoke about leaseholders trapped in the leasehold scandal.
“The Victoria Derbyshire team gave me a voice, supported me and others affected in what could have been a very daunting experience.”Her show holds politicians to account , defends societies victims, gives voice to the powerless and needs to be saved. If the decision is not reversed, important issues will be even more neglected, marginalised voices will get even less attention and the powerful will receive even less scrutiny. You can sign the petition below.
You veered through life's arduous journey
Sometimes falling prey on the prickly path
When demon thorns pierced your soul
Music and art offered moments of sanctuary.
Through shimmering encounters of darkness and light
Gaping lesions and cemented scars
Uphill struggles and crushing misfortunes
You defiantly battled your beasts of torment.
Your Spanish pilgrimage, a mission fulfilled
With steadfast commitment and tenacious endurance
You consummated your dream
With heroic transcendence.
Sail away my friend to destiny's harbour
Where time is tickless and peace prevails
Dock safely comrade. Flourish anew
Spread your wings. Forever be free.
