The roll call of shame : The Tory MP's who voted to allow sewage to be discharged into our seas and rivers.

 

On Wednesday (20 October), 265 MPs shamefully voted with the Government  to reject an attempt by the House of Lords to toughen up the approach to the discharge of sewage, with 22 Conservative MPs rebelling and voting against the Government. 

 Lords Amendment 45 to the Environment Bill would have placed a legal duty on water companies in England and Wales to make improvements to their sewerage systems and demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage.

This then meant that water treatment companies could continue to dump sewage into  our waterways.Water companies discharged raw sewage into rivers in England more than 400,000 times last year and for more than three million hours, according to figures published by the Environment Agency.

Swimmers are currently being warned  to avoid at least 60 Uk beaches as water companies are pumping raw swage into the seas with the southwest and south coast being the worst affected.

Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage  have created an interactive map which shows that popular locations such as Great Yarmouth,  New Quay and Bognor Regis have all been impacted just as families begin to enjoy their summer holidays. https://www.sas.org.uk/map/ 

I always viewed conservatism as the politics of the sewer, but I didn't ever expect it to be so literal.  We need public ownership of our water now.

Our beautiful rivers and coastline ruined by sewage pollution , terrifying bills. Low pay. Raging inequality. Soaring inflation. NHS on its knees, Social and care justice system too. Strikes .Transport hell. Price hikes. Food banks without food, 2/3 of households forecast to be in fuel poverty by January. Thanks Tories for this total hellscape. The Tories are both literally and metaphorically showering us all with shit. The vilest most hated Government in modern history. Time to flush them away!

Here is a list of all the Tory MPs who voted to allow water companies to  discharge raw sewage into seas and rivers. Many pf whom are now getting all hufty after being called out for voting the way they did , getting cross with us for minding about their abject negligence. Exactly  what does  it take for these people to say sorry. The Tories are both literally and metaphorically showering us all with shit. The vilest most hated Government in modern history. Time to flush them away!  .

 

Nigel Adams (Conservative – Selby and Ainsty) 

Adam Afriyie (Conservative – Windsor) 

Peter Aldous (Conservative – Waveney) 

Lucy Allan (Conservative – Telford) 

Lee Anderson (Conservative – Ashfield)

Stuart Andrew (Conservative – Pudsey)

Edward Argar (Conservative – Charnwood) 

Victoria Atkins (Conservative – Louth and Horncastle)

Gareth Bacon (Conservative – Orpington) 

Kemi Badenoch (Conservative – Saffron Walden)

Shaun Bailey (Conservative – West Bromwich West)

Duncan Baker (Conservative – North Norfolk)

Steve Baker (Conservative – Wycombe)

Harriett Baldwin (Conservative – West Worcestershire)

Steve Barclay (Conservative – North East Cambridgeshire)

Simon Baynes (Conservative Clwyd South)

Aaron Bell (Conservative Newcastle under Lyme)

Scott Benton (Conservative – Blackpool South) 

Paul Beresford (Conservative – Mole Valley) 

Bob Blackman (Conservative – Harrow East) 

Crispin Blunt (Conservative – Reigate) Peter Bone (Conservative – Wellingborough) 

Andrew Bowie (Conservative – West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

Graham Brady (Conservative – Altrincham and Sale West)

Suella Braverman (Conservative – Fareham)

Jack Brereton (Conservative – Stoke-on-Trent South)

Andrew Bridgen (Conservative – North West Leicestershire)

Steve Brine (Conservative – Winchester)

Paul Bristow (Conservative – Peterborough)

Sara Britcliffe (Conservative – Hyndburn)

Anthony Browne (Conservative – South Cambridgeshire)

Fiona Bruce (Conservative – Congleton)

Felicity Buchan (Conservative – Kensington)

Alex Burghart (Conservative – Brentwood and Ongar)

Rob Butler (Conservative – Aylesbury) 

Alun Cairns (Conservative – Vale of Glamorgan)

Andy Carter (Conservative – Warrington South)

James Cartlidge (Conservative – South Suffolk) 

William Cash (Conservative – Stone)

Miriam Cates (Conservative – Penistone and Stocksbridge)

Maria Caulfield (Conservative – Lewes)

Alex Chalk (Conservative – Cheltenham)

Jo Churchill (Conservative – Bury St Edmunds)

Theo Clarke (Conservative – Stafford)

Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative – Bassetlaw)

Chris Clarkson (Conservative – Heywood and Middleton)

James Cleverly (Conservative – Braintree)

Thérèse Coffey (Conservative – Suffolk Coastal)

Damian Collins (Conservative – Folkestone and Hythe)

Alberto Costa (Conservative – South Leicestershire)

Robert Courts (Conservative – Witney)

Claire Coutinho (Conservative – East Surrey)

Stephen Crabb (Conservative – Preseli Pembrokeshire)

Virginia Crosbie (Conservative – Ynys Môn)

James Daly (Conservative – Bury North)

David T C Davies (Conservative – Monmouth)

James Davies (Conservative – Vale of Clwyd)

Gareth Davies (Conservative – Grantham and Stamford)

Mims Davies (Conservative – Mid Sussex)

Dehenna Davison (Conservative – Bishop Auckland)

Caroline Dinenage (Conservative – Gosport)

Sarah Dines (Conservative – Derbyshire Dales)

Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative – Huntingdon)

Leo Docherty (Conservative – Aldershot)

Michelle Donelan (Conservative – Chippenham)

Nadine Dorries (Conservative – Mid Bedfordshire)

Steve Double (Conservative – St Austell and Newquay)

Oliver Dowden (Conservative – Hertsmere)

Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative – Thurrock) 

Flick Drummond (Conservative – Meon Valley)

David Duguid (Conservative – Banff and Buchan)

Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative – Chingford and Woodford Green)

Ruth Edwards (Conservative – Rushcliffe)

Michael Ellis (Conservative – Northampton North)

 Natalie Elphicke (Conservative – Dover)

George Eustice (Conservative – Camborne and Redruth)

Luke Evans (Conservative – Bosworth)

David Evennett (Conservative – Bexleyheath and Crayford)

Ben Everitt (Conservative – Milton Keynes North)

Michael Fabricant (Conservative – Lichfield)

Laura Farris (Conservative – Newbury)

Simon Fell (Conservative – Barrow and Furness)

Katherine Fletcher (Conservative – South Ribble)

Mark Fletcher (Conservative – Bolsover)

Nick Fletcher (Conservative – Don Valley)

Liam Fox (Conservative – North Somerset)

Lucy Frazer (Conservative – South East Cambridgeshire)

Mike Freer (Conservative – Finchley and Golders Green)

Marcus Fysh (Conservative – Yeovil)

Mark Garnier (Conservative – Wyre Forest

Nusrat Ghani (Conservative – Wealden)

Nick Gibb (Conservative – Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)

Peter Gibson (Conservative – Darlington)

Jo Gideon (Conservative – Stoke-on-Trent Central)

John Glen (Conservative – Salisbury)

Robert GAndrew Griffith (Conservative – Arundel and South Downs)

Kate Griffiths (Conservative – Burton) James Grundy (Conservative – Leigh)

Jonathan Gullis (Conservative – Stoke-on-Trent North)

Robert Halfon (Conservative – Harlow)

Luke Hall (Conservative – Thornbury and Yate)

Robert Goodwill (Conservative – Scarborough and Whitby) 

Richard Graham (Conservative – Gloucester)

Helen Grant (Conservative – Maidstone and The Weald) Chris Green (Conservative – Bolton West)

Stephen Hammond (Conservative – Wimbledon)

Matt Hancock (Conservative – West Suffolk) Mark Harper (Conservative – Forest of Dean)

Rebecca Harris (Conservative – Castle Point)

Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative – Hastings and Rye)

John Hayes (Conservative South Holland & The Deepings)

James Heappey (Conservative – Wells)

Darren Henry (Conservative – Broxtowe)

Antony Higginbotham (Conservative – Burnley)

Richard Holden (Conservative – North West Durham)

Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative – Thirsk and Malton)

Philip Hollobone (Conservative – Kettering)

Paul Holmes (Conservative – Eastleigh)

John Howell (Conservative – Henley)

Paul Howell (Conservative – Sedgefield)

Nigel Huddleston (Conservative – Mid Worcestershire)

Neil Hudson (Conservative – Penrith and The Border)

Eddie Hughes (Conservative – Walsall North)

Jane Hunt (Conservative – Loughborough)

Tom Hunt (Conservative – Ipswich)

Alister Jack (Conservative – Dumfries and Galloway)

Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative – Morley and Outwood)

Robert Jenrick (Conservative – Newark)

Caroline Johnson (Conservative – Sleaford and North Hykeham)

Gareth Johnson (Conservative – Dartford)

David Johnston (Conservative – Wantage)

Andrew Jones (Conservative – Harrogate and Knaresborough)

David Jones (Conservative – Clwyd West)

Marcus Jones (Conservative – Nuneaton)

Simon Jupp (Conservative – East Devon)

Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative – Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Alicia Kearns (Conservative – Rutland and Melton)

Gillian Keegan (Conservative – Chichester)

Julian Knight (Conservative – Solihull)

Greg Knight (Conservative – East Yorkshire)

Danny Kruger (Conservative – Devizes)

Kwasi Kwarteng (Conservative – Spelthorne) (Proxy vote cast by Stuart Andrew)

John Lamont (Conservative – Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)

Andrea Leadsom (Conservative – South Northamptonshire)

Andrew Lewer (Conservative – Northampton South)

Julian Lewis (Conservative – New Forest East)

Chris Loder (Conservative – West Dorset)

Mark Logan (Conservative – Bolton North East)

Marco Longhi (Conservative – Dudley North)

Julia Lopez (Conservative – Hornchurch and Upminster)

Jack Lopresti (Conservative – Filton and Bradley Stoke)

Cherilyn Mackrory (Conservative – Truro and Falmouth)

Rachel Maclean (Conservative – Redditch)

Kit Malthouse (Conservative – North West Hampshire)

Anthony Mangnall (Conservative – Totnes)

Scott Mann (Conservative – North Cornwall)

Julie Marson (Conservative – Hertford and Stortford)

Theresa May (Conservative – Maidenhead)

Jerome Mayhew (Conservative – Broadland)

Paul Maynard (Conservative – Blackpool North and Cleveleys)

Karl McCartney (Conservative – Lincoln)

Stephen McPartland (Conservative – Stevenage)

Mark Menzies (Conservative – Fylde)

Stephen Metcalfe (Conservative – South Basildon and East Thurrock)

Robin Millar (Conservative – Aberconwy)

Maria Miller (Conservative – Basingstoke)

Nigel Mills (Conservative – Amber Valley)

Andrew Mitchell (Conservative – Sutton Coldfield)

Gagan Mohindra (Conservative – South West Hertfordshire)

Damien Moore (Conservative – Southport)

Robbie Moore (Conservative – Keighley)

Penny Mordaunt (Conservative Portsmouth North)

Anne Marie Morris (Conservative Newton Abbot)

James Morris (Conservative – Halesowen and Rowley Regis)

Joy Morrissey (Conservative – Beaconsfield)

Jill Mortimer (Conservative – Hartlepool)

Wendy Morton (Conservative – Aldridge-Brownhills)

Kieran Mullan (Conservative – Crewe and Nantwich)

Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative – Scunthorpe) 

David Mundell (Conservative – Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)

Sheryll Murray (Conservative – South East Cornwall)

Andrew Murrison (Conservative – South West Wiltshire)

Robert Neill (Conservative – Bromley and Chislehurst)

Lia Nici (Conservative – Great Grimsby)

Neil O’Brien (Conservative – Harborough)

Guy Opperman (Conservative – Hexham)

Neil Parish (Conservative – Tiverton and Honiton) 

Owen Paterson (Conservative – North Shropshire)

Mark Pawsey (Conservative – Rugby)

Mike Penning (Conservative – Hemel Hempstead)

John Penrose (Conservative – Weston-super-Mare)

Chris Philp (Conservative – Croydon South)

Christopher Pincher (Conservative – Tamworth)

Dan Poulter (Conservative – Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

Rebecca Pow (Conservative – Taunton Deane)

Victoria Prentis (Conservative – Banbury)

Mark Pritchard (Conservative – The Wrekin)

Tom Pursglove (Conservative – Corby)

Will Quince (Conservative – Colchester)

Tom Randall (Conservative – Gedling) 

John Redwood (Conservative –Wokingham) 

Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative – North East Somerset)

Nicola Richards (Conservative – West Bromwich East)

Angela Richardson (Conservative – Guildford)

Laurence Robertson (Conservative – Tewkesbury)

Mary Robinson (Conservative – Cheadle)

Douglas Ross (Conservative – Moray)

Lee Rowley (Conservative – North East Derbyshire)

Dean Russell (Conservative – Watford)

David Rutley (Conservative – Macclesfield)

Gary Sambrook (Conservative – Birmingham, Northfield)

Selaine Saxby (Conservative – North Devon)

Paul Scully (Conservative – Sutton and Cheam)

Bob Seely (Conservative – Isle of Wight)

Andrew Selous (Conservative – South West Bedfordshire)

Grant Shapps (Conservative – Welwyn Hatfield)

Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative – Elmet and Rothwell)

Chris Skidmore (Conservative – Kingswood)

Chloe Smith (Conservative – Norwich North)

Greg Smith (Conservative – Buckingham)

Henry Smith (Conservative – Crawley)

Julian Smith (Conservative – Skipton and Ripon)

Royston Smith (Conservative – Southampton, Itchen)

Ben Spencer (Conservative – Runnymede and Weybridge)

Mark Spencer (Conservative – Sherwood)

Alexander Stafford (Conservative – Rother Valley)

Andrew Stephenson (Conservative – Pendle)

Jane Stevenson (Conservative – Wolverhampton North East)

Bob Stewart (Conservative – Beckenham)

Iain Stewart (Conservative – Milton Keynes South)

Gary Streeter (Conservative – South West Devon)

Mel Stride (Conservative – Central Devon)

Graham Stuart (Conservative – Beverley and Holderness)

Julian Sturdy (Conservative – York Outer)

James Sunderland (Conservative – Bracknell) 

Desmond Swayne (Conservative – New Forest West)

Robert Syms (Conservative – Poole)

Maggie Throup (Conservative – Erewash)

Edward Timpson (Conservative – Eddisbury)

Justin Tomlinson (Conservative – North Swindon)

Michael Tomlinson (Conservative – Mid Dorset and North Poole)

Craig Tracey (Conservative – North Warwickshire)

Laura Trott (Conservative – Sevenoaks)

Tom Tugendhat (Conservative – Tonbridge and Malling)

Shailesh Vara (Conservative – North West Cambridgeshire)

Martin Vickers (Conservative – Cleethorpes)

Matt Vickers (Conservative – Stockton South)

Christian Wakeford (Conservative – Bury South)

Robin Walker (Conservative – Worcester)

Charles Walker (Conservative – Broxbourne)

Jamie Wallis (Conservative – Bridgend)

David Warburton (Conservative – Somerton and Frome)

Matt Warman (Conservative – Boston and Skegness) 

Giles Watling (Conservative – Clacton)

Suzanne Webb (Conservative – Stourbridge)

Helen Whately (Conservative – Faversham and Mid Kent)

Heather Wheeler (Conservative – South Derbyshire)

John Whittingdale (Conservative – Maldon)

James Wild (Conservative – North West Norfolk)

Craig Williams (Conservative – Montgomeryshire)

Gavin Williamson (Conservative – South Staffordshire)

Mike Wood (Conservative – Dudley South)

William Wragg (Conservative – Hazel Grove)

Jeremy Wright (Conservative – Kenilworth and Southam)

Jacob Young (Conservative – Redcar)

Enough Is Enough !

We have reached  beyond tipping  point

Our communities torn bitterly apart,

As the cost of living soars so high

Energy prices out of control,

People unable to afford to eat

Tax cuts given to the elites.

No money for struggling families

Vestiges of privilege still intact,

The rich getting richer and richer

Wars tearing nations bloodily apart ,

Refugees forced to Rwanda

Trapped in an agonising reality.

Global warming, climate crisis

Disasters all around impending,

Democracy mutating daily

Into present day dystopia,

Tories forcing through draconian policies

Keep tightening their chains round necks..

As Summer draws to an end

A constant gruelling battle for survival,

Benefits stripped to the bone

After years of cuts and freezes,

The poor will have a miserable time

Many will go hungry, many will be cold.

With Labour party opposition not opposing

Vultures preying upon the weak, 

The working class at least fighting back

Screaming enough is enough,

Standing united and proud 

Against an establishment that does not care.

Until change is rightfully achieved 

Will continue to sing loudly out,

Hearts filled with devotion and pride

Anger and fierce defiance, all they can muster,  ,

As flowers still bloom below their feet

Wont let the bastards grind them down.

The Man Who Turned Desert Into Forest By Planting A Tree Everyday For 40 Years

 

In 1979  at the age of 16 extraordinary environmental activist  Jadav "Molai" Payeng came across a large number of snakes that got washed away by a flood onto a treeless sand bank and  had died due to excessive heat. 

Experts claimed that within 20 years, this area could be completely washed away. Trees are a great natural way to prevent flooding, as the raindrops stay on the leaves and are evaporated back into the air. Therefore, less water reaches the ground. Tree’s also can absorb 120 gallons of water during a drought. In an area with unlimited water there are records of trees absorbing as much as 150 gallons of water in a single day.  This cycle of precipitation, evaporating, condensation and then again precipitation, or rainfall is what keeps these eco-systems thriving as they will have a continuous cycle of water.

Jadav was so concerned by what was happening  that he started planting trees, all on his own on a around the  sandbar of the river Brahmaputra,in Majuli Island in Northen India, the largest river Island on Earth.

Jadav left behind his formal education to give all his attention to the forest. The son of a buffalo trader, Jadav grew up a poor farmer from a marginalized tribal community in Assam, India.Jadav continued to plant  over the next 40 years and  has single-handedly created a  flourishing forest  with its own eco- system that covers 1,390 acres bigger than New York’s Central Park.

Jadav began by planting bamboo and then moved onto other species. At first planting trees was time consuming until the trees started providing the seed themselves. As his forest grew dense, so did the amount of inhabitants. Wildlife experts say the forest now attracts 80% of the world’s migratory birds and houses Bengal tigers, Indian rhinoceros, over 100 deer and rabbits, monkeys, and a herd of around 100 elephants visit the forest every year.

 His endeavours went entirely unnoticed for decades,. and  his dedication was only discovered in 2007 when a photojournalist stumbled upon Payeng and discovered him seeding his forest and wrote an article about him. He soon gained the attention of the Indian government and then the entire country — winning multiple awards for his incredible achievements.

Despite his tremendous effort Jadav does not take credit for the flourishing forest, instead crediting ‘the birds, cows, deer, wind, water and elephants (that) have helped me.’

Speaking to how his forest has effected the eco-system Jadav proudly says that ‘people want to know my story. I tell them I just plant trees, and I’d like all of you to do so.’

‘Trees are the lifeline of the forest. They don’t just give us shade and oxygen. They feed birds and animals and balance our eco system. If there is no life left, what is the use of all the advancements we have made?’

 After all this hard work the forest is now in danger, Jadav's worst fear for his forest is deforestation for financial gain, which makes the flora and fauna vulnerable to human greed. He believes all species on this planet are animals, including humans, and that humans don’t realize that frugality and honoring nature is key to our survival. Jadav says “The threat now comes from man who would destroy the forest for economic gain.’ he continues "There are no monsters in nature, except for humans.”

Jadav plans to plant 5,000 more acres of trees on Majuli to create a 500-mile stretch of flora on the banks of Brahmaputra River.

 

 

 

Known popularly today  as 'The Forest Man of India' to honor Jadav for his environmental activism and for planting one tree every day, the forest was named "Molai" after him. Jadav's story also inspired a children's book, Jadav and the Tree Place, that tells his story of how he made a forest that is now home to wild animals.

Speaking to how his forest has effected the eco-system Jadav proudly says that ‘people want to know my story. I tell them I just plant trees, and I’d like all of you to do so.’

‘Trees are the lifeline of the forest. They don’t just give us shade and oxygen. They feed birds and animals and balance our eco system. If there is no life left, what is the use of all the advancements we have made?’

Since his story went viral in 2012, Jadav has travelled around the world speaking in schools and attending conferences on climate change and environmental issues and has revolutionised the movement towards reforestation and tree plantation. 

He has been the subject of many documentaries and now people travel across the globe to see the Molai forest. An amazing  story that reminds us that sometimes the problem of climate change seems too large to tackle alone, but Jadav is the perfect example of how one person can make a difference to the eco-system around them.

The critically acclaimed Forest Man a 2013 documentary short, tells of Jadav’s continued endeavours in environmental activism. Compassion and empathy towards nature and its beings is what Jadav follows and lives by. Payeng who put the forest above his own needs in 2015 was honored with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India.

Jadav  believes that if developing countries take necessary efforts to protect the environment, the world's natural balance will be restored. He has also asked UNESCO members that we should compel residents to take good care of the environment and support reforestation for future generations, if we accomplish this, the world will be a happier and healthier place to live. Here’s to many more environmental heroes like Molai Payeng and their efforts to save the planet for all of us!

 

 

Marking the 203rd anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre

  

 

The 16th of August, marks  the 203rd  anniversary of the infamous Peterloo Massacre, one of the most significant atrocities carried out by the British authorities against their own people and one of the  bloodiest episodes and most dismal in British history. The massacre by official accounts is believed to have involved 18 deaths and injuries to as many as 700 protesters, including  many women who paid the price for exercising their democratic rights to freedom of assembly.Though the actual death toll was likely much higher.

Peterloo involved the assembly at St Peter’s Field in  post- Napoleonic Manchester (since renamed St Peters Square.)  a crowd of  60,000 to 89,000 peaceful working class pro-democracy (none of them were armed) and anti poverty protestors  had gathered, many in their Sunday best, proud and defiant  amid growing poverty and unemployment, mainly from the Corn Laws that artificially inflated bread prices, demanding the right to vote at a time when only  3% were on the electoral register.Manchester , despite its vast population, hadn't a single MP. Trade Unions were already widespread but illegal and were frequently suppressed violently.  

The first few decades of the 19th century, enshrined in public imagination as the elegant age of the Regency, were a time of severe political repression in England. The Tory government, led by Lord Liverpool, feared that the kind of revolutionary activity recently witnessed in France would break out in England – probably in Manchester, where social conditions were so desperate – and chose decided to stamp out all dissent and free speech.

The government was at war with France, which saw Wellington triumph over Napoleon’s forces at Waterloo in 1815.But as Paul Foot once wrote, the British government was also waging war against its own people.

The key speaker at St Peter’s Field was a famed orator by the name of Henry Hunt, the platform consisted of a simple cart, and the space was filled with banners emblazoned with messages calling for - Reform, universal suffrage,and equal representation. Many of the banners poles were topped with the red cap of liberty- a powerful symbol at the time.However, local magistrates peering out a window from a building near the field panicked at the size of the crowd, and proceeded without any notice to read the Riot Act, ordering the assembled listeners to disperse. It would almost certainly have been the case that only a very few would have heard the magistrates. The official 'guardians of the peace' then promptly directed the local Yeomanry to arrest the speakers. The Yeomanry could be described as a kind of paramilitary force with no training in crowd control and little in the way of proper discipline similar to the riot police that ran amok at the Battle of Orgreave during the miners strike of the 1980's. On horseback they charged into the crowd, and pierced the air with cutlasses and clubs. Many in the crowd believed the troops had drunk heavily in the lead up to the assault. In the melee, 600 Hussars who had initially been held in reserve, were ordered to attack unarmed civilians, with brutal consequences.They sliced indiscriminately at men, women and children as they tried to get to the speakers platform. Within minutes, people were sabred, trampled and crushed. Screams reverberated across the square. The Manchester Guardian described how " the women seemed to be the special objects of the rage of these bastard soldiers," 

The massacre was named ‘Peterloo’ in ironic comparison to the battle of Waterloo, that took place four years earlier.The victims included a two year old boy, William Fides, who was ridden oer by the cavalry after he was knocked from his mothers arms, and an an old Waterloo veteran , John Less, who was slashed to death by the cavalry's sabres.

After the massacre, it was the victims, and not the aggressors who were treated as criminals, and feared discrimination by their employers. And no doubt many of those injured died as a result of their injuries some weeks or even months later. In those days of primitive medical care and lack of welfare provision, a serious injury was often a death sentence, and for a wage earner to be incapacitated  equalled the threat of starvation for a family. At this time many handloom weavers and spinners were already living in a state of semi starvation.

The government of Lord Liverpool, backed up the public officials and the actions of the troops and was adamantly unwilling to apologize for the appalling violence. Henry Hunt, Samuel Bamford and other radical leaders were arrested for treason. This capital offence  was later commuted to a lesser one, and they served prison sentences of several years.

The event would  also usher in a series of draconian laws that further restricted the liberties of the population.It would lead to the suppression of public expression of opinion, debate , gathering and dissent.The populace did not decline into apathy, however. A large public outcry ensued, and an effort was made by various reformers to document the truth of what had occurred in the center of Manchester on that fateful day. Peterloo led directly to the formation of one of Britain’s leading progressive newspapers, the Manchester Guardian (now the more watered down Guardian). The aftermath of the event would in itself unleash a wave of public anger and protests, which eventually was to lead to the Great Reform Act of 1832, which led to limited suffrage and to today's parliamentary democracy. Many historians now acknowledge Peterloo  as hugely influential in ordinary people winning the vote and credit it with giving rise to the Chartist movement, and  strength to other workers rights movements. We should never forget on whose shoulders we today stand, a reminder that what rights that we have today were hard one.

In Italy, in the aftermath of Peterloo, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley having heard of the horror, his outraged response was  to compose his powerful political  91-verse poem, The Mask of Anarchy. The word anarchy then meant something quite different to how we view it today, Shelley used it to describe the chaos of tyranny, in which no one but the very few who own and control society can plan their lives for themselves.

The poem was written in the ballad tradition. Ballads in the early 19th century were verse narratives, often set to popular tunes and typically sold on the streets as a cheap disposable form of literature. They often focussed on tragedies, love affairs or scandals. By adopting this style,Shelley could be seen  to be speaking with the voice of the common man. 

The Mask of Anarchy recounts a nightmare in which the three Lords of the Tory Cabinet parade in an awful possession, murdering and deceiving while Britain dissolves into anarchy. He rouses the people to free themselves from their oppressors, by supplying them, among other things, with a powerful definition of freedom.

He begins his poem with the powerful images of the unjust forms of authority of his time: God,  the King and Law, and he then imagines the stirrings of a radically new form of social action. The poem mentions several members of Lord Liverpool's's government by name: the Foreign Secretary, Castlereagh who appears as a mask worn by Murder, the Home Secretary,Lord Sidmouth., whose guise is taken by Hypocricy, and the Lord Chancellor,Lord Eldon whose ermine gown is worn by Fraud.The crowd at this gathering is met by armed soldiers, but the protestors do not raise an arm against their assailants:

Stand ye calm and resolute,
Like a forest close and mute,
With folded arms and looks which are
Weapons of unvanquished war,

And that slaughter to the Nation
Shall steam up like inspiration,
Eloquent, oracular;
A volcano heard afar.

Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you-
Ye are many - they are few."

That closing verse is perhaps one of the best known pieces of poetry in any movement of the oppressed all over the world such is it's resonance.Encouraging people to rise up and challenge the tyranny that they are facing every day of their lives, against the undeniable injustices.faced by the many at the hands of the few. The rallying language of the poem  has led to elements of it being recited by students at Tiananmen Square  and by protestors in Tahir Square during the revolution in Egypt in 2011.It would inspire the campaign slogan "We are many, they are few" used by anti Poll Tax demonstrators  in 1989-90, and also inspired the title of the 2014 documentary film We are Many, which focussed  on the worldwide anti-war protests of 2003, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also memorably used the final stanza.
Shelley’s friend and publisher, Leigh Hunt did not publish the poem until after Shelley’s death fearing that the opinions in it were too controversial and inflammatory. The Masque of Anarchy  has been described as “the greatest political poem ever written in English” by people such as Richard Holmes. It inspired Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience which in turn influenced the anarchist writings of Leo Tolstoy.Percy Bysshe Shelley believed that “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.”He would remain a serious advocate for serious reform for the rest of his life, and would come to serve as a prophetic voice and inspiration to those, like the Chartists who created significant movements for peaceful reform, alongside generations of activists to this present day. Many years later his powerful poem is as relevant in austerity gripped Britain as when it was first written and  reminds us that Poetry can serve to inspire and motivate people and change and influence ideas. It is one of the most powerful tools we have.

Full text of Shelley's Mask of Anarchy can be found here:-

http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/PShelley/anarchy.html 

An earlier post on Shelley can be found here :-

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2017/08/percy-bysshe-shelley-august-4-1792-july.html

The terrible events  that happened on August 16th, 1819  were recently  dramatised by director Mike Leigh in his  historical drama Peterloo. In this gripping account he presents a devastating portrait of class and political corruption which develops our understanding of how the working poor in Britain have coped with oppression . It  is a necessary film for our times, .which should be shown up and down the country in schools so that our children  can learn more about this shameful piece of British history.

This sobering but enthralling blast from the past, superbly shot by the director's regular cameraman Dick Pope, sees Leigh seamlessly move between the lives of disparate characters in the years after Waterloo: a family of weavers headed by Maxine Peake's matriarch: the Westminster government and gluttonous Prince Regent (an unrecognisable Tim McInnerny), fearful of losing his head to the forces of revolution; venomous Manchester magistrates determined to quash any radicalism; and moderate reformists and supporters from the local press, who invite tub-thumping speaker "Orator" Hunt (a terrific Rory Kinnear) to address the masses on that fateful day. Though the film is of considerable length, it's never plodding - Leigh leavens the mood with pointed humour and subtle mockery, whether it's in the pomposity and idiosyncrasies of the ruling classes, Vincent Franklin's apoplectic reverend magistrate or Hunt's smug, southern snobbishness. The climactic massacre is unheralded and low key, yet once the mayhem unfolds, it's easy to be reminded of recent crowd crises like Orgreave, the Poll Tax riots and Hillsborough. No doubt, Ken Loach would have been more strident with the material. To his credit, Leigh manages to take quirky slice-of-life drama to impressively epic heights and express a quieter indignation. But it's indignation, nonetheless. 

 

 

Peterloo  has  since become a rallying cry for the working class and radicals, a symbol of the vile nature of the ruling class. Thousands marched  through the streets of Manchester at the weekend and called for action in  a demonstration to commemorate the Peterloo Massacre, Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was among those who addressed  the crowd during speeches at St Peter's  Square.He received rousing cheers when he expressed solidarity with workers  fighting back against exploitative employers.

The gathering came amid a spiralling  cost of living crisis, with  energy bills  and fuel prices soaring  over the past year, and further sharp increases  expected to follow in October and next January. It also  took place against a backdrop of widespread industrial action  for workers across the country, as repeated  calls were made for a 'summer of solidarity.'

Following his appearance at the event  Mr Corbyn wrote on Twitter, "At todays  commemoration of the Peterloo Massacre  in Manchester we sent a strong message, We need an immediate wealth tax with our energy, water, rail and mail in public hands to bring down bills and help us build a fairer society of peace, justice and shared wealth"

 Repesentatives from  the RMT union which has been striking  over pay and conditions for its members this summer, werenison and the Fire  in attendance at the event. Other unions including Unite, Unison and the Fire Brigades Union were also present. 

Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union president Ian Hudson said tht in the current Tory leadership contest, fewer people are voting  than had the right to participate in parliamentary elections at the time of Peterloo.

He said  that "people have the right to food, not to foodbanks" and called for the abolition  of reviled zero-hours contracts, which leave those on them with no guarantee of work or wages.

The lessons that we  draw from Peterloo remain as valid today as ever, that we do not forget  that our rights have been won by others and must be constantly defended. A time to pause and to consider this significant moment in history when our working class ancestors were  slaughtered whilst peacefully protesting for basic civil rights that we today, take for granted.We must continue to display our defiance. More than that, in today's society with the Conservatives  current  draconian  Policing Bill, it’s a reminder that Peterloo was about demanding basic democratic rights and that all these years later a Tory Government is still trying to restrict them and take them away from us and are continuing to attack peoples rights to free assembly and their continuing  assaults on the weak and vulnerable among us, it is a timely reminder of how governments are still not averse to attacking its own people and we should put Shelley's words into practice and rise like lions, because we are many and they are few.

 

                                 Print of the Peterloo Massacre published by Richard Carlisle
     

               

 

Beyond the Weight of the World

Life can feel good until you are randomly hit by a wave of sadness, I feel sadness at the passing of people I didn't know but who made my life brighter. And sadness too for people I didn't know whose awful and undeserved deaths made me question what world we're living in. No human should be bombed or drowned seeking safety.

I feel sadness too for those  dealing with the fallout of murderous  government policies that have led to the worst cost of living crisis in generations. People left with less and less because the rich are taking more and more. 

Ultimately we are all an intrinsic part of this universe. We are all interconnected, and even though each of us separate individuals.We should appreciate the slender threads that hold us together. Through compassion we can share the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of our emotional maturity. If we stop feeling for strangers we lose the energy to make the world better. People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason the world is in chaos, is things are being loved and people are being used.

There's  sorrow and pain in everyone's life, in this world full of darkness, but going over our sad thoughts and feelings, again and again can lead to further  depression and states of anxiety. But the history of depression is a history of our contemporary capitalist world ,and also, a history of violence, the violence that people of color, or LGBT people, or asylum seekers, experience on a daily basis, a violence both physical and psychic. 

.All of this to say that the current, social, political, economic, ecological  crisis is thus a mental health crisis as well. The perpetuum mobile of capitalism and its exhaustion of resources also pertains to mental resources. The economic and the psychological seem to have become indistinguishable from each other, as the double meaning of depression would also suggest. Naturally, we are not all in the same boat, or in the same bed. We are not all depressed (and those of us who are are experiencing it in the same way, or for the same reasons). We are not equally fucked (up). Some strata of society have access to futurity in ways that others do not, some bear the burden more than others, and  some simply die sooner than others .

What's important to remember there's power in overcoming sadness.  It's time we stop being ashamed of when we are sad - the faster we embrace our less good moments the sooner we can enjoy the good ones to come. I cry a lot as an expression of joy, sadness and passion. I cry sometimes  through frustration  or joy  after hearing  something musically moving or news of  people overcoming adversity.  Crying is part of my empathy.

It's ok to not be ok. you are certainly not to blame. There is no one size fits all solution, though sharing, communicating with the people you love and that love you back can  help. Your mental health matters, your mental  well-being matters, You matter, don't forget that,

There are shortcuts to happiness and dancing is one that I heartedly embrace. A form of silent poetry in which you can participate wildly or gracefully, at your own free will.  Healthy eating, exercise, meditation, consuming positive content, and therapy are also all great ways to break out of the depressive thought cycle, medication even,.

Try to  remember that every now and then there's a ray of light that melts the loneliness in your heart and brings comfort, a future of possibilities, though the climate crisis quite literally annihilates this future as such. despite this never give up, no matter what.  Always believe in yourself and keep going, even when things don't go your way. You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. Continue to be transformed; by the power of your minds, feelings and emotions.We can solidify and  support one another, and  weather the storms.

The coordinated dismantling of capitalism in every nation is also  becoming rather necessary to citizens around the world. After all capitalism  is basically modern day slavery. The literal chains and whips have been replaced by more insidious methods of subjugation. Feudalism didn't die, it's just been reimagined. The elites and privileged still rule and shape this world.

Human beings must look beyond this archaic system of exploitation which is currently leaving so many feeling depressed and hopeless.in realms of hardship. The capitalist mode of production creates a culture, which incentivizes the pursuit of hoarding money above all else. Success is measured by your wallet, rather than your overall happiness. As  result  this rat race coerces human beings into becoming cogs in our capitalist system, and as a result, alienates us from the joys of life. 

We must not be resigned to this system of coercion and control that  is ugly, banal and cruel, instead we must put our heads down, and put in the hard work it will take to change this system. Shed those feelings of alienation and depression, which have been ingrained in you by the modern-day capitalist system. Find renewed motivation in the struggle to create a better world for ourselves, and all those who will be born after us. We must reject the capitalist propaganda which assures us success in life is equivalent to how much wealth one accrues. We can find joy and purpose in fighting for a cause bigger than ourselves.

For as long as capitalism has existed, workers and unions have had to fight to protect their health from the conditions bred by a society blindly pursuing profit. In the workplaces, this has meant winning victories like the eight hour work day in the early 1900s.This struggle continues today, where we need to continually fight against the exploitative conditions that cause us to become mentally and physically unwell. Fighting against abusive managers, toxic work environments, long hours, lack of benefits and poverty wages are part of the fight for our own mental health.

In this moment in time amidst  the cost of living crisis we also need a Poll Tax level of solidarity to prevent a winter, not just of discontent, but one of a multitude of deaths and immense sadness from fuel/food poverty and  homelessness caused by a corrupt government. enabling blatant corporate daylight robbery.

For the time being it’s still possible to find beauty, find meaning, have fun with your friends, get inspired by music, art,, keep on singing out, even if this all happens in spite of the way that the economy is organized. Breathe in love and send sparkles of loving light to all living things and all the spaces between us, it is time to create a beautiful life on Earth for everyone to live together in happiness, harmony and peace. 

When we take care of each other, stand against  the forces of Capital, the future can be rebuilt in the name of a communist, shared, sustainable one, ingrained with its own authentic universalism. They say I'm a dreamer , but I'm not the only one.

Hiroshima / Nagasaki : Never Again

 

 

 

On the 6th August 1945 the United States dropped  an atomic bomb called ' Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan which is estimated to have killed 100,000 to 180,000 people out of a population of 350,000. Then three days later, a second  atomic bomb  called "Fat Man" was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing between 50,000 and 100,000 people in an act of unspeakable violence. 

.Hiroshima and Nagasaki were largely civilian towns, meaning there wasn't a strong military reason to drop the atomic bombs over those particular cities. No one was excluded from the horrors of the atomic bomb, a "destroyer of worlds" burnt hotter than the sun. Some people were vaporised upon impact, while others suffered burns and radiation poisoning that would kill them days, weeks or even months later. Others were crushed by debris, burned by unimaginable heat or suffocated by the lack of oxygen. Many survivors suffered from leukemia and other cancers like thyroid and lung cancer at higher rates than those not exposed to the bombs. Mothers were more likely to  lose their children during pregnancy or shortly after birth. Children exposed to radiation were more likely to have learning disabilities and impaired growth.

Those that did manage to survive  would be traumatised for the rest of their lives. Hibakusha is a term widely used in Japan, that refers to the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it translates as 'explosion effected  Survivor of Light. These survivors speak of the deep, unabating grief they felt in the days, months and decades since the attack  They have described the shame of being a survivor , many were unable to marry, find jobs, or live any sort of normal life. They have said that many Hibakusha never speak of the day, instead choosing to suffer in silence. They told what it was like to be suddenly alone in middle age, to lose their parents, spouses, children, and livelihoods in a single instant. In memory of them, we should make sure that the  misery and devastation caused by nuclear weapons is never forgotten.
Even if Japan was not fully innocent, the people of Japan did not deserve to pay the price for their nations wrongdoing, and there was absolutely no moral justification in obliterating these two cities and killing its inhabitants in what was clearly a crime against humanity and murder on an epic scale. Hiroshima and Nagasaki held no strategic importance. Japan were an enemy on the brink of failure an members of the country's top leadership were involved in peace negotiations. Many believe that these two atrocities were a result of  geopolitical posturing at its most barbaric, announcing  in a catastrophic  display of military capability, of inhumane intention showing America's willingness to use doomsday weapons on civilian populations.The bombings serving as warnings and the fist act of the Cold War against its imperialist rival Russia. A message to the Russians of the power of destruction and technological military capability that the US had managed to develop.Three days later U.S president Harry Truman exulted ; "This is the greatest thing in history! " and gloated that " we are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely."
Then the photos began to emerge, haunting images of burned children with their skin hanging off, of bodies charred and there was Sadaki Sasaki and the 1,000 origami peace cranes she folded before her death at 12 from leukemia ten years after the bomb was dropped on her hometown of Hiroshima.The atom bombs dropped by the US on those Japanese cities served no military purpose, as the Japanese were already suing for peace. President Truman, who ordered the bombs to be dropped, lied to the American people when he said that the atom bombs had saved lives and there were few civilian deaths, The  two atomic bombs killed and maimed hundreds and thousands of people.and the effects are still being felt today. The bombs dropped were  of a indiscriminate and cruel character beyond comparison  with weapons and projectiles of the past. Despite all  this Truman never regretted his decision. .

Today as the world commemorates the lives that were lost and the unacceptable devastation caused to people and planet, we still have so much to learn from this picture of indescribable human suffering.

When American troops arrived in Nagasaki and stumbled upon one of the cameramen, from the legendary film company Nippon Eiga Sha, shooting amidst the rubble, they promptly arrested him and confiscated his film. The Americans would halt the entire production in fact. When they let it continue, they did so as producers, paying for the production and thus retaining the right to the film - and the right to keep it concealed for decades.

The atom bombs dropped by the US on those Japanese cities served no military purpose, as the Japanese were already suing for peace. President Truman, who ordered the bombs to be dropped, lied to the American people when he said that the atom bombs had saved lives and there were few civilian deaths, The  two atomic bombs killed and maimed hundreds and thousands of people.and the effects are still being felt today.

Seeing the barbarous effect of these weapons, did our political and military leaders decide to rid the world of them. Far from it.Today's nuclear weapons make the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs look like water pistols in  comparison, and there are enough of them to destroy not just cities but the whole world.

And who has most of these weapons of mass destruction? The only country to ever  use them - the United States.

American Nuclear Bombs are to be housed at RAF Lakenheath, The same issue as what ignited  the peace movement in the 1980's  that the Peace Camp at Greenham brought to everyones attention, CND are organising a demo at Lakenheath on 17th September. 77 years after they were used, it's time to finally bring an end to the era of nuclear weapons.The lingering humanitarian aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should remind us all of what is at stake and galvanise our action. More information here  https://cnduk.org/lakenheath/

Today as the world commemorates the lives that were lost and the unacceptable devastation caused to people and planet, we still have so much to learn from this picture of indescribable human suffering. As  we mourn the hundreds and thousands of lives lost at Hiroshima and Nagasaki now is the time for us to redouble our efforts to ensure that such an atrocity does not happen again and on this poignant anniversary, we must reaffirm our determination to campaign for a world without nuclear weapons, whilst remembering the resilience of ordinary people in the years after the war and the movements of ordinary people against war, who try to make this world more peaceful and harmonious place for us all.Hiroshima and Nagasaki  reminds us of our mission to end preventable and premature deaths by such senseless atrocities. 

Completely ridding the world of nuclear weapons is a humanitarian and moral imperative and it is the only way forward,Governments must be urged to pursue negotiations to prohibit the use of and completly eliminate nuclear weapons through a legally binding international agreement.

 Residents of Nagasaki have paid tribute to victims of the US atomic bombing 77 years ago, with the mayor warning Russia’s war on Ukraine showed that another nuclear attack is not just a worry but “a tangible and present crisis”.

Mayor Tomihisa Taue, in his speech on Tuesday at the Nagasaki Peace Park, said nuclear weapons can be used as long as they exist, and their elimination is the only way to save the future of humankind.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and threat to use nuclear weapons came only a month after it and four other nuclear powers pledged in a statement that nuclear war should never be fought, Mr Taue said. 

 “This has shown the world that the use of nuclear weapons is not a groundless fear but a tangible and present crisis,” he said. The belief that nuclear weapons can be possessed not for actual use but for deterrence “is a fantasy, nothing more than a mere hope”, he added.  

As in Hiroshima, Russia and its ally Belarus were not invited to the memorial event in Nagasaki.

Participants, from more than  80 nations were present at the ceremony including diplomats from nuclear states, observed a moment of silence at 11.02am, the moment the bomb exploded above the southern Japanese city on August 9 1945.

Although Russia last week tried to roll back on Vladimir Putin’s warning, fears of a third atomic bombing have grown amid Russia’s threats of nuclear attack since its war on Ukraine began in February.

Russia last week shelled a Ukrainian city close to Europe’s largest nuclear plant. 

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said: “Even though we face a severe security environment, we must pursue the history of non-nuclear use and make Nagasaki the last place of nuclear attack.”

Japanese officials worry that the conflict may embolden China to be even more assertive in East Asia, and the government is pushing to step up its military capability and spending.

Japan renounces its own possession, production or hosting of nuclear weapons, but as a US ally Japan hosts 50,000 American troops and is protected by the US nuclear umbrella.

However, Russia’s nuclear threat has prompted some hawkish lawmakers in the governing party to raise the possibility of nuclear sharing with the United States.

Mr Taue said discussions about nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation over the past decades have not been put into practice and trust in the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons has become “tenuous”.

“We must recognise that ridding ourselves of nuclear weapons is the only realistic way of protecting the Earth and humankind’s future,” Mr Taue said.

He urged Japan’s government to exercise leadership in pursuing peace diplomacy that does not rely on nuclear deterrence.

“Nuclear weapons are not deterrence,” said Takashi Miyata, an 82-year-old survivor, or hibakusha. He said possible nuclear sharing is “the opposite of our wish”. 

Takashi Miyata, 

Air-raid sirens and scenes of bombed-out Ukraine reminded him of the “pika don” or the flash and explosion of the atomic bombing that Mr Miyata experienced at the age of 5. His uncle and aunt died in the bombing, and his father died of leukaemia five years later. Mr Miyata also developed cancer 10 years ago.

Many survivors of the bombings have lasting injuries and illnesses resulting from the explosions and radiation exposure and have faced discrimination in Japan.

As of March, 118,935 survivors are certified as eligible for government medical support, according to the health and welfare ministry. Their average age now exceeds 84.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a coalition of non-governmental organisations in one hundred countries promoting adherence to and implementation of the United Nation nuclear weapon ban treaty. This landmark global agreement was adopted in New York on 7 July 2017.

More information below.

http://www.icanw.org/

Whoever wins the Tory leadership campaign, ordinary people lose.

The political vacuum left by Boris Johnson and the lack of clear candidates on who should replace him as Prime Minister has led to a contest where the Conservative Parliamentary Party has whittled down a long list of potential contenders to two. Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor and Liz Truss, the acting Foreign Secretary. After an initial feeling of happiness after the news of Johnson;s resignation my fear is that his replacement could be just as bad.

So far they have both tried to adopt the style and themes of Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady whose sweeping right-wing policies remain popular among Conservative voters. Her target audience is the roughly 160,000 members of the Conservative Party who will choose the next leader. For these voters, many of whom are older and  very right-wing, Thatcher remains a revered figure, second only to Winston Churchill in the pantheon of Tory grandees. The contest has revealed the  sad reality that such a few amount of people could decide our next Prime minister,making a mockery of what our  democracy is supposed to stand for. 

Truss has undergone a complete political reinvention to become the favorite to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative party and UK Prime Minister., the former Remain supporter is now a Brexiter with the zeal of a convert.after the vote went the other way She is also a political survivor as the longest continuously serving member of the cabinet, having worked under three prime ministers. She’s also gone from yelling slogans as a child against Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s Conservative government and leading Oxford University’s Liberal Democrat society to become the darling of the Tory Party right.  “My parents were left-wing activists, and I’ve been on a political journey ever since,” Truss said in an ITV debate of Tory leadership.

Her politics are now  Reaganite in flavour, with a foreign policy world view in which Britain stands alongside America against Russia and China, unsupported by its wimpish European neighbours. References to the cold war and “freedom” pepper her comments on international affairs.

Truss ,has appealed to the right wing of her party  through her so called libertarianism, trumpeting the value of free markets, backing low taxation and repeatedly railing against the “nanny state” interfering in the lives of ordinary Britons. Her politics are Reaganite in flavour, with a foreign policy world view in which Britain stands alongside America against Russia and China, unsupported by its wimpish European neighbours.References to the cold war and “freedom” pepper her comments on international affairs.

Truss's campaign has been boosted by her proposals on tax which amount to reversing the hike in national insurance contributions for all taxpayers and cancelling a planned increase in corporation tax, all paid for, it would seem, by re-profiling repayments on Covid related debt.

She’s won admirers among ardent Brexiteers by challenging the EU over the Brexit deal struck by Johnson’s own government, introducing a bill overriding the bulk of its provisions on Northern Ireland and is believed to show a willingness to break parts of the Good Friday Agreement in order to rectify issues with the protocol, a move that could risk a resuming of violence,

Even while protesting loyalty to Johnson, the foreign secretary has done little to disguise her ambitions to claim the top job, schmoozing with colleagues in social events known as “fizz with Liz” and running a carefully-curated instagram feed that rivaled the social media operation run by Sunak’s team.

 Sunak’s foreign policy beliefs are less pronounced. He rose to high office on a sharp trajectory. Barely three years ago, he was a junior minister discussing edicts to local councils about boycotts of Israel. Unlike Truss, Sunak was an early and firm supporter of Brexit – a fact that ought to be his strongest appeal to Conservative members. But his reputation as a tax-raising chancellor has dented his popularity among the electorate.

Whilst Sunak’s ethno-religious background is significantly different than previous contenders for PM, Sunak’s educational and class background is very much similar. In his youth, Sunak attended Winchester boarding school, one of the highest performing fee-paying schools in Britain and subsequently attended Oxford University where he read Politics Philosophy and Economics. Sunak’s privileged background has in large part fuelled a public perception of Sunak as an elitist.

Sunak’s net worth is estimated to be approximately $887 million and in  the context of corruption and a regime built on one law for the rich and one for the poor, Sunak has been damaged by his wife’s “non-dom” status, and a recently surfaced video where Sunak in his youth claims to have no working-class friends has cemented Sunak’s privileged and out-of-touch image.

In connection to Sunak’s vast wealth has been a recent scandal pertaining to media the revelations that Sunak’s wife, the daughter of an Indian, billionaire and business magnate, Narayana Murthy, who despite living in the UK has a non-domiciled tax status in the UK, meaning her tax contributions are vastly lower.

Let's not forget  they both were not only first-hand witnesses but also active participants in all the errors and failings of the Johnson government from which they are now so keen to distance themselves whilst continuing to praise the author. They both claim to have known better all along, and have both had months to think about the policies they were going to present as part of their campaigns in order to sound coherent and credible.

Yes  they have plenty of promises, but no commitment  to delivering policies that are desperately needed to cope with the current cost of living crisis and the rising poverty we are facing. With either of them in charge the current crisis  will only get worse.What is singularly absent in the plans of both aspirants is a proposal to help struggling households.

6.3 million households are currently in fuel poverty, by the time one of these candidates takes residence in Downing Street, fuel bills will be set to rise to a whopping 8.5 million ny thee end of the year, The Bank of England  have hiked interest rates again  from 1.25% ti 1.75% , the  biggest rise  in 27 years as it battles to curb rising prices of energy, food and other commodities.The continuing war in Ukraine is unlikely to offer respite to volatile markets or reduce fuel costs for motorists and households.In this unremittingly grim story, the story of struggling Britain in 2022.

Both Sunak and Truss appear to have little to say except pander to the demands of their rank and file for tax cuts now. Both of course at the same time further capitalist economic policies which are proving incapable of stopping Britain and the global economy entering recession,  feverishly offering more cash to the rich, ­without being drawn into much detail about how the poor will foot the bill. Sunak said he wants to slash taxes by 20 percent by the end of the decade. He is promising to cut income tax to 16p, which would put some £6 billion less into the public purse. It’s a move targeted at ­buttering up the rich. But it will come as little comfort as cost of living crisis continues to bite and a cold winter looms over millions of people.

With more Tory misrule, unless we get rid of them,we will forever be poisoned and imprisoned by their policies, that are infected with fear, nationalism and hate, delivering more austerity and dollops of neoliberalism, while lacing us with propoganda their party's preferred pill to medicate and keep the nation in a docile state.

In recent months, the most controversial policy utilized by the government has been Priti Patel's inhumane Rwanda policy,  revealing the Conservatives politics of cruelty that will see asylum seekers being deported to the country in a draconian effort to end the boat crossings of refugees fleeing crisis and danger, a right guarantee under international law.

The policy has been endorsed by both candidates publicly however, Truss has discussed the importance of expanding the policy to deter immigrants. She has proposed the possibility of expanding deportations to Turkey, which already holds the largest refugee population in the world.

The existing Rwanda policy is already controversial within the public sphere, since not only does it send vulnerable asylum seekers to a country with recent human rights abuses, but the scheme is expected to cost the public taxpayer millions and millions without any clear certainty that the policy will curb the flow of migrants across the channel as only a small minority of asylum seekers will face deportation.

As energy prices soar sky high. and we are barely able to survive I  predict  them continuing to destroy our society, whoever wins, they are committed to austerity, racism and accelerating climate chaos. Both want to undermine workers’ rights and make it harder to protest.

If the Tories retain their grip on power I can only foresee this nasty party, getting nastier and nastier, that will effect the lives of so many ordinary people. A future of  no hope,only despair that will see them  not letting us retire until we are 75. Strikes made illegal,  trade unions being banned.  Scottish and Welsh assemblies dissolved. Judges to become purely political appointments. Chain gangs to replace community service. Workhouses for the feckless, undeserving poor. Refugees offered to countries as cheap Labour.The return of  capital  and corporal punishment. People forced to sing the National anthem after films and the the return of the bloody  Black and white minstrels, as they tighten their authoritarian ad regressive grip.

But a real alternative can be built to all this , and we can at least be energised by the strike of the RMT workers which has huge support among the public. There will also be industrial action of workers in BT. Postal workers and nurses will be balloted for strike action. There is a real  need for coordinated action on the cost of living crisis and a mass movement that can ensure it is not just Johnson that is removed from power, but the Tories as a whole. .

Nichelle Nichols, 'Star Trek' Icon. Trailblazer and activist, dead at 89

It is with great sadness I write that legendary  American actress, singer, and dancer Nichelle Nichols ( born Grace Dell Nichols) best known for her portrayal of Nyota Uhuraa (Uhuraa was taken from the Swahili for "freedom")  an officer of African descent  in Star Trek: The Original Series, and its film sequels. has passed away on July 30  at age 89, her family announced in a statement. "Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away" her son Kyle shared on the actress' official website. He added, "Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration. Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all." 

 A family spokesman said the actress died in Silver City, New Mexico, where she was living with her son. 

Her groundbreaking performances in Star Trek, which was light years ahead of its time  corresponded with the Civil Rights movement in the United States, and helped set the first standard for diversity and inclusion in mainstream screen entertainment. Not only was it a rarity to see a black woman  on primetime TV, it was even rarer to see a black woman cast in such a high powered role.  She was portrayed displaying a command of a non-menial job, communications officer on the USS Enterprise  almost unheard of on television, which Black women were often shown as maids and nannies. 

Nichol's impact was immediate and undeniable, making her an icon and hero to countless viewers across the globe.

The original “Star Trek” premiered on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. The legendary sci-fi TV series promised to seek out new life and new civilisations which it did in abundance.  As far as exploring new planets, it entered  virgin territory as far as casting went. The Star Trek franchise (it later became a cartoon and a series of films) devised by Gene Roddenberry, reflected it's creator's optimism, with different nationalities, races and species happily co-existing. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was Gene's message to viewers that in the far-off future, the 23rd century. human diversity would be fully accepted. 

Nichelle went on to make  American television history with the first scripted interracial lip to lip  kiss with Star Trek's Captain Kirk, William Shatner, in the 1968 episode "Plato's Stepchildren." representing another way in which the series, as well as its fictional crew, boldly went where none had gone before.

 

 

Nichols, radiating professionalism and 1960s mod-style sex appeal from her chair on the Enterprise’s bridge, opened a channel to Hollywood for stars like Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, and Pam Grier. She was an integral part of one of the most influential shows of the 1960s that impacted the imagination of space exploration and opened doors for future equality and inclusion for women.

The death of this Star Trek legend opened the floodgates of mourners who remembered her not only for her cosmic contribution to the entertainment industry as one of the first Black women featured in a major TV series, but also for the warmth and generosity of her soul.

I am so sorry to hear about the passing of Nichelle," wrote Shatner on Twitter, who starred alongside Nichols in the original TV series. "She was a beautiful woman & played an admirable character that did so much for redefining social issues both here in the US & throughout the world."

Shatner said he "will certainly miss her" and sent his "love and condolences to her family."

" I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise," her co-star George Takei wrote on Twitter. "For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend."

 Kate Mulgrew, who portrayed Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, praised Nichols for pathing the way for female actresses.

Sharing a photo of Nichols in her Lt Uhura role to Twitter, Mulgrew wrote: “Nichelle Nichols was The First.

 “She was a trailblazer who navigated a very challenging trail with grit, grace, and a gorgeous fire we are not likely to see again. May she Rest In Peace.”

While actress Jeri Ryan, who played Borg drone Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Voyager, said: “RIP to a true legend. Her legacy will live forever” in her tribute.

And U.S. President Joe Biden said Nichols "redefined what is possible for Black Americans and women."

"Our nation is forever indebted to inspiring artists like Nichelle Nichols, who show us a future where unity, dignity, and respect are cornerstones of every society," he said in a statement.

Nichelle Nichols (b.Grace Dell Nichols), the daughter of a chemist and a homemaker, was born in Robbins, Illinois. on Dec. 28, 1932, and grew up in nearby Chicago.

After studying classical ballet and Afro-Cuban dance, she made her professional debut at 14 at the College Inn, a high society Chicago supper club. Her performance, in a tribute to the pioneering Black dancer Katherine Dunham, reputedly impressed bandleader Duke Ellington, who was in the audience. A few years later, newly re christened Nichelle, she briefly appeared in his traveling show as a dancer and singer.

At 18, she married Foster Johnson, a tap dancer 15 years her senior. They had a son before divorcing. As a single mother, Nichols continued working the grind of the nightclub circuit.

In the late 1950s, she moved to Los Angeles and entered a cultural milieu that included Pearl Bailey, Sidney Poitier and Sammy Davis Jr., with whom she had what she described as a “short, stormy, exciting” affair. She landed an uncredited role in director Otto Preminger’s film version of “Porgy and Bess” (1959) and assisted her then-boyfriend, actor and director Frank Silvera, in his theatrical stagings.

In 1963, she won a guest role on “The Lieutenant,” an NBC military drama created by Roddenberry. She began an affair with Roddenberry, who was married, but broke things off when she discovered he was also seriously involved with actress Majel Barrett. “I could not be the other woman to the other woman,” she wrote in  her 1994, autobiography, "Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories," which became a best seller. (Roddenberry later married Barrett, who played a nurse on “Star Trek.”)

Nichols’s second marriage, to songwriter and arranger Duke Mondy, ended in divorce.Nichols on Dec. 28, 1932, in Robbins, Illinois, started her career as a dancer and singer, and she wanted to be the first Black ballerina when she was younger. She originally danced  during performances by Duke Ellington and his band, and got her break when Ellington asked her to sing one night when the lead performer became sick. 

Once in Hollywood, she made her film debut in 1959’s "Porgy and Bess," dancing with Sammy Davis Jr. the first of a string of film and TV roles that led up to "Star Trek."

She was widely praised for breaking down barriers in an era when Black women were rarely seen in prominent TV roles. Nichols also used her celebrity to shed light on the civil rights struggle in the '60s. Early in the series, Nichols considered quitting her role as Lt. Uhura having been offered work on Broadway. But a chance encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made her reconsider. In a 2011 NPR interview, Nichols said that the late civil rights leader kept her from leaving the show. Telling her it was the only show he would allow his children to watch. Nichols explained that at a fundraiser for the NAACP, King urged her to remain on the show rather than leaving for Broadway.  “When we see you, we see ourselves. And we see ourselves as intelligent, and beautiful and proud,” she recalled King telling her. The following Monday she rescinded her resignation to show creator Gene Roddenberry.  

In 2016, she spoke to ABC Audio about how she lent her star status to NASA decades later to encourage diversity in its ranks of real-life space travelers;

"NASA recruited me, hired me to recruit women and minorities for the space shuttle program. And until that time there were no people of color even considered," she explained, adding with a laugh, "And after that, we were all over the place!"  "I interviewed quite a few young women that were interested in that and who navigated a very challenging trail with grit, grace, and a gorgeous fire we are not likely to see again. didn't think they had a chance. And one interview with me and they knew they did."  

In just four months, Nichols was credited with bringing in more than 8,000 applications, of which more than 1,600 were women and more than 1,000 were people of color. 

Her many film roles ranged from 1974's Isaac Hayes Blaxploitation movie "Truck Turner" to 2005’s Ice Cube comedy "Are We There Yet?"

For many years, she performed a one-woman show honoring Black entertainers such as Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt and Leontyne Price. She also was credited as co-author of two science-fiction novels featuring a heroine named Saturna.

Nichols did not appear in director J.J. Abrams’s “Star Trek” film reboot that included actress Zoe Saldana as Uhura. But she gamely continued to promote the franchise and spoke with candor about her part in a role that eclipsed all her others.

“If you’ve got to be typecast,” Nichols told the UPI news service, “at least it’s someone with dignity.”

On TV, Nichols had voice roles in the animated series "Futurama," "The Simpsons," "Spider-Man" and "Gargoyles." Nichols also appeared in the daytime drama "The Young and the Restless" and NBCs "Heroes." playing the great aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.

 In 2016 she  received a lifetime achievement award from the Saturn Awards in 2016, which honor sci-fi entertainment.

Nichols was a regular at “Star Trek” conventions and events into her 80s,, and she was beloved by fans everywhere for her warm , caring presence and devotion to Trek's ideals. Howevr her schedule became limited starting in 2018 when her son announced that she was suffering from  advanced dementia.

Nichols was placed under a court conservatorship in the control of her son Johnson, who said her mental decline made her unable to manage her affairs or make public appearances.

Some, including Nichols’ managers and her friend, film producer and actor Angelique Fawcett, objected to the conservatorship and sought more access to Nichols and to records of Johnson’s financial and other moves on her behalf. Her name was at times invoked at courthouse rallies that sought the freeing of Britney Spears from her own conservatorship.

But the court consistently sided with Johnson, and over the objections of Fawcett allowed him to move Nichols to New Mexico, where she lived with him in her final years.

Nichols leaves behind a rich  legacy of breaking boundaries,racial barriers, fighting for civil rights, and inspiring many to dream and believe beyond their surroundings and humble beginnings. She is survived by her son, Kyle Johnson. She also leaves behind three living Star Trek cast members, William Shatner, George Takei, and Walter Koenig.

As she makes her final journey around the stars , my deepest condolences go out to her friends and family.  She will not be forgotten. Let's keep her memory alive by spreading the message of peace and equality amongst all people. 

The Murder of Frank H Little (1879 – August 1, 1917)

 

Today in Labour history, 1st August 1917, labour organiser and an executive board member of the radical Industrial Workers of the World, the Biracial  half-Cherokee  Frank Henry Little was in the middle of the night  dragged from his hotel room in Butte, Montana, by 6 masked men beaten, tied to the bumper of a car, dragged to the outskirts of town, beaten and tortured him some more before they hanged him from a railroad trestle. When his battered corpse was cut down a few hours later, the police found a note written in red crayon pinned to his underwear: “Others Take Notice. First and Last Warning.”

Frank Little apparently was born in Illinois in 1878, but moved to Missouri, then Ingalls, Oklahoma, the area around Yale, near Stillwater, as a child. His father was a doctor. He had two  brothers and two sisters. Both brothers attended college at Stillwater  

In 1900: Little had become a “hard rock” metal miner and an Arizona member of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM)  and in 1903: Little had been hired by WFM to organize the copper camps of the Clifton Morenci Metcalf area  The Western Federation of Miners was the main force launching the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).which  Little joined  in 1906.

The I.W.W. was founded in 1905 by Eugene V. Debs, William "Big Bill" Haywood, and others who believed that workers should be organized into a single industrial union because individual trade unions were likely to be pitted against each other during disputes with the employers. The I.W.W. was founded on the belief that the working class and the employing class have nothing in common and that the historic mission of the working class is to abolish capitalism and replace it with an economic system based upon human need rather than private profit, so that the benefits of the good life could be extended beyond the privileged few.

Little had only rolled into Montana’s copper mining hub two weeks before helping to organise a miner's strike against the Anaconda Copper Company.  A roving agitator he especially gained fame as a leader in the free speech fights at Missoula, Fresno, and Spokane, and went on to organize the lumberjacks, metal miners, oil field workers and harvest bindle stiffs all over the West and Southwestern states. If local authorities denied the IWWers the right to speak in public or to congregate under the protection of the Bill of Rights, the union people would go to jail rather than give up. In fact, using the tactic now known as nonviolent resistance, Little led them into jail over and over again. He was almost always the first one arrested and the last one freed. Free speech in America owes a great deal to Frank Little.

 Little Pioneered Non-Violent Struggle  long before  Gandhi or Martin Luther  King.In addition to innumerable jail sentences, Little also suffered mob violence at least twice before the final fatal episode. He was kidnapped by businessmen and knocked unconscious after being held for several days.

Y.ears later he was held again. With a rope around his neck for emphasis, Little was told to desist from labor organizing and to name any union men in the area. He did neither and was eventually rescued.

Little's  hatred of exploitation and oppression and of all those who profited by it in one way or another was irreconcilable. He was always for the revolt, for the struggle, for the fight. Wherever he went he “stirred up trouble” and organized the workers to rebel. Bosses, policemen, stoolpigeons, jailers, priests and preachers—these were the constant targets of his bitter tongue. He was a blood brother to all insurgents, “to every rebel and revolutionist the world over.”

Little was also known for his incendiary anti-war speeches that rankled many of the townspeople. America had entered the Great War just four months earlier, and Little’s convictions were controversial even amongst his peers. Although most IWW members, or Wobblies, were ideologically opposed to a war that was viewed as nothing more than yet another example of capitalist gain at the expense of the workers, few dared to be as boldly outspoken as Little. Even IWW founder “Big Bill” Haywood argued that the Wobblies should silence their views for the sake of the organisation’s progress. And so Frank Little found himself on the radical fringe of an already radical-fringe organisation. “Better to go out in a blaze of glory than to give in,” he would say. “Either we’re for this capitalist slaughterfest or we’re against it. I’m ready to face a firing squad rather than compromise!” 

 Little's speeches against the Anaconda Company, the draft and World War I were supported by many Butte miners but engendered fear among Company executives and others. Although the Company and local officials pushed for Little's arrest for "treasonable utterances," U.S. district attorney Burton K. Wheeler found insufficient evidence to indict.

But in its  determination to quash anti-war dissidents, the United States government singled out and targeted  the IWW – going so far as to spread rumours that the organisation was subsidised by Germany – and Frank Little’s murder was to have devastating consequences for the bourgeoning radical labour movement.  Little  would be a signal martyr to America’s nascent Red Scare.

 Frank Little’s last speech, for which he paid with his life, was directed against the capitalist war. In that speech he set up his own doctrines against those of the warmongers. His philosophy, compressed into a single sentence, was picked up and carried all over the country on the telegraph wires with the news of his assassination. “I stand for the solidarity of labor.”

Days after the lynching, Montana authorities declared martial law against anti-war opponents, associates of Little’s were arrested and accused of ‘espionage’, and both the miners’ strike and union were crushed. Beyond Montana, Little’s death was a harbinger of a string of blatantly undemocratic federal laws, specifically the Espionage and Sedition Acts which outlawed any form of dissent. Moreover, the government used the IWW’s association with anti-war opposition to initiate a subjugating campaign of repression against the labour movement, culminating in the 1920 Palmer Raids  which effectively destroyed the IWW’s momentum and power for the next thirty years. 

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer spearheaded efforts to round up anarchists, communists, and other political radicals and then deport them when possible. World War I and the 1917 Russian Revolution inflamed American fears of the spread of radicalism and immigration from Europe, contributing to the first “red scare” in the United States. As state and local governments purged radicals from public service and cracked down on left-wing labor organizing, Palmer undertook the most visible campaign against radical organizations, often immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Between November 1919 and January 1920, Palmer’s agents deported nearly 250 people, including notable anarchist Emma Goldman, and arrested nearly 10,000 people in seventy cities.

 Little's  killers were never brought to justice.

 Years later, writer Dashiell Hammett  would recall his early days as a Pinkerton detective agency operative and recount how a mine company representative offered him $5,000 to kill Little. Hammett says he quit the business that night.

An estimated 10,000 workers lined the route of Frank Little's funeral procession, which was followed by 3,500 more persons. in what was the largest funeral in Montana history.And in the aftermath would see federal troops bought in to quash labor unrest in Butte, and in the  month following Little's murder  the IWW's offices were raided and the organization and its members were hounded into near obscurity. There is no reasonable estimate of the number of unionists deported, jailed, blacklisted, or killed. Even Frank Little’s close relatives were afraid to talk about him. His personal effects, his writings, the death mask made from his face, and the movie made at his gigantic funeral are lost to history. The only remaining trace of the great Frank Little is his tombtone  in Mountain View Cemetery. Butte which is still well cared for by local activists. His grave marker reads : Slain By Capitalist Interests For Organizing And Inspiring His Fellow Men."

Even though Frank Little was executed on this day , his ideas will live on as long as people remember him.We must continue to stand on the shoulders of working class giants, and remember that an injury to one is an injury to all.

Travis Wilkinson's  2002 documentary film An Injury to One tells the story of Frank Little and his lynching in Butte, Montana.

 

 

Celestial Love

Blessed are the spheres

Where lovers play

When souls are pierced

And softened hearts glide

In rhythmic momentum

Thunderous bolts beat

As two silhouettes in the sky 

Pirouette their magic

Electrocised in union 

As dream bubbles awake

No force of gravity weighing down

Composure is cast adrift

Rousing pulsations charge 

Like stars sparkling

In body, in mind, cosmic time

lighting up the dark

Under painted rainbows

Energy orbits seas of tranquillity 

Emotions erupting  pulling together

Blissfully into ones, heart

Weaving love's essence

Flowers of passion  blooming

In the vastness of the galaxy 

Celestial bodies become one

Floating in deep space

Together in warm embrace.