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