Earth Day 2023 : Invest in our planet

Every year on April 22, marks Earth Day. Earth Day didn’t come out of nowhere. The seeds for action were incubated in the fertile ground of anti-war, civil rights, and women’s rights protests of the 1960s. In 1962, Rachel Carson’s bestseller Silent Spring pulled the curtain back on the dangerous effects of pesticides and helped spur public awareness about the links between environmental degradation and public health.

Seven years later in 1969, an oil slick on Cleveland’s polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire, National media coverage by Time magazine and National Geographic helped shine a light on the injustices of chemical waste disposal.By 1970, the American public was just waking up to the disastrous implications of environmental degradation. The first Earth Day was envisioned by one of its founders, the former Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, as a way to “shake up the political establishment,” and broaden national attention to environmental issues through teach-ins, demonstrations, and other advocacy.

Rallies were organised and on  22 April 1970, 20 million people took to the streets across the United States to protest environmental destruction.and by the end of the year, the US federal government established the Environmental Protection Agency and over time, this movement gained momentum and now has over one billion people observing this day with great enthusiasm every year, with participation from approximately 192 countries.

The  basic call for action back in 1970 was the same as it is for us today: that we must limit pollution, along with greed, and listen to scientists if we want an Earth that continues to be habitable.

From tiny microorganisms to humans and giant whales, all forms of life reside on the beautiful planet Earth. This planet provides them with all the essentials required for a healthy and happy life, such as shelter, food, air, and other necessities.

Earth is often referred to as "Mother Earth" because of its nurturing qualities. However, unfortunately, due to our selfish desires, we have started to harm the planet. It is crucial to provide proper attention and care to Earth's failing health.

Every year, Earth Day is commemorated with a different theme that highlights the various challenges facing our planet. According to https://www.earthday.org/  the official global organiser of the event, the theme for Earth Day 2023 is "Invest in Our Planet". a call to action for governments, organisations, and individuals to collaborate and invest in protecting our planet to ensure a healthy and sustainable future for all. This day is an opportunity for governments, organisations, and individuals to reflect and renew their commitment to investing in the health and wellbeing of our planet by protecting and healing our environment.

Investing in our planet is crucial for the survival and prosperity of future generations, and it requires a collective effort to preserve our natural resources. We need to make conscious decisions, take action towards sustainable living, minimise environmental degradation, invest in clean energy solutions, and promote efficient use of resources.

The Covid-19 pandemic made the interconnectedness of our world and the impact that our actions have on it more apparent than ever before. However, it also showed us that we can make significant positive changes by working together towards a common goal.

One of the biggest challenges the Earth is facing is climate change. The effects of climate change are increasingly becoming apparent, with rising temperatures, droughts, floods, and the loss of biodiversity. Climate change is a devastating force, leading to a hungrier and more vulnerable world. It destabilises economies, fuels conflict, cripples productivity and weakens social structures. It’s the most vulnerable people in the world who are disproportionately exposed to extreme weather events, more reliant on natural resources, and least able to cope with and adapt to environmental impacts.  Between 1998 and 2017 of all natural disasters, 90% were climate related. When farmers suffer from drought, communities face devastating floods year after year, or when businesses don’t have sustainable electricity, more complex crises can arise.  Climate change deeply impacts every emerging economy, sector, supply chain, and industry. There are 3.3 billion people whose lives are at risk and highly vulnerable due to climate change and over 130 million people will be pushed into poverty by climate change by 2030.

Urgent action is needed to transition to a more sustainable way of living and reduce our carbon footprint.

There are many ways to invest in our planet, and we can all make a difference. For instance, we all can do many things to help mitigate the effects of climate change.

Our collective action will preserve and restore natural resources, biodiversity, and ecosystem services and consequently heal our Earth. Simple changes in our daily habits like reducing our use of single-use plastics, using public transport or cycling instead of driving, and eating more plant-based diets can all have a significant impact. We can invest in sustainable agriculture practices and support initiatives that restore degraded land and ecosystems. We can also support organisations and initiatives working towards environmental sustainability and conservation by advocating for policies that promote the use of renewable energy, participating in events, signing petitions, and joining organisations that work towards protecting the Earth.

Businesses also have a role to play. Many companies have already taken steps towards becoming more environmentally sustainable by investing in renewable energy, reducing waste, and adopting sustainable practices throughout their operations, but there is still much more that can be done. Businesses should continue investing in technologies that reduce their carbon footprint, work towards a circular economy, and help drive the transition to a more sustainable future.

Governments also have a responsibility to tackle climate change and environmental degradation. Through infrastructure, policies, and legislation, governments can incentivise sustainable practices, attract investments in renewable energy, and protect natural habitats and wildlife. Also, governments can invest in supporting education and awareness campaigns that help to raise public consciousness about environmental issues. 

One other thing you can do to honor the Earth this Earth Day is to educate yourself about the connection between climate change and capitalism.

Our capitalist economic system is fundamentally incompatible with a healthy planetary ecosystem, says Naomi Kline in This Changes Everything.  We live on a planet with finite resources, but our economic system is premised on infinite growth.  Capitalism demands unfettered growth of consumption, but our survival and that of many other species requires a contraction of humanity’s growth and consumption. Our choice, says Kline, is to fundamentally change our economic system, or to allow nature to change it for us. The first will be hard, but the second even harder. So we must change our economic system.

This means challenging some of our most cherished myths: the myth that capitalism and democracy are equivalent, the myth that capitalist societies are the most happy, the myth that capitalism was proven to be the “one true economic system” with the fall of the Soviet Union, the myth that consumers have all the power in a capitalist system, and that most pernicious myth of all, the myth that there are no alternatives.

We can unlearn capitalist ways of thinking.  Capitalism infects all of our relationships: with other people, with other-than-human beings, and with the Earth.  Consider the way we “value” other people and how we sometimes calculate whether what we get from them is more than what we give in return. Think about your relationship to the place you live.  Is it a place you “use”, or is it a world you inhabit, cherish, and care for?  We learned these ways of thinking, and we can unlearn them.

In no uncertain terms, it is impossible to sustainably interact with nature while adhering to a strict capitalist structure. Capitalism must maintain the maximal abuse of natural resources to increasingly produce in order to raise profit.

Almost half of the food produced globally is wasted. This is impossible to rationalize given that currently, aside from the recent pandemic, 20,000 people die of hunger daily.

However, from a capitalist economic outlook, this makes perfect sense because the goal is profit maximisation. The equilibrium for profit maximisation is such that production at this scale of wastage provides the highest net profit. Based on capitalism’s greedy increase in profit, all other assumptions must be made in line with, and only with, an outcome of profit maximisation.

We are witness to the global deterioration and irreversible destruction caused by capitalism. Global warming, pandemics, epidemics, habitat loss, pollution, disease, economic inequality, extremism, crime, deforestation, and social instability are just some of the global problems that are directly linked to capitalist greed.

We spend billions in healthcare to reverse damages such as obesity because corporations produce harmful food. They do not intend to poison us deliberately; but they do, in fact, because they choose to adhere to a capitalist system that commands profit maximisation at any cost.

There is no inherent social morality or ethics within capitalism other than enforceable legal parameters. Sustainable living within a strictly capitalist system is paradoxical. We have confirmed through decades that greed overcomes compassion and capitalism trumps harmony.

For the wealthiest few this is acceptable due to opportunities that extreme wealth affords. But today, the discussion is no longer one of classism but of survival.

When we eventually deplete all natural resources, as we are quickly doing, we all perish together. Whether we face storms or starve, in the long run there will remain nothing for even the wealthiest few.

Unless the prevalent capitalist system is tackled and reformed on a global scale,the world’s environmental problems – climate change, pollution and food security among them – will lead to a mass extinction event.

Earth Day reminds us all of our urgent need  to take action for our planet  and to commit to restoring her health and wellbeing. By working together, we can protect mother earth for future generations as we move towards a more sustainable future. Let us make Earth Day 2023 a turning point in our collective efforts towards safeguarding the environment. For a truly equitable future, feel-good investment is simply not enough. Moving forward, Earth Day must be restored to its radical roots, bringing millions of people together around the globe to voice a common call for systemic, anti capitalist  change.

Inner Voice

Intricate details invade my psyche

Hitting the spot with perfect precision

Pulling no punches, peeling no eggs

Intensities soul searching cry

Sharp and piercing. loud and relentless

Spearing the target, penetrating the fog

Permeating the forefront with outsider mind

Beyond comfort zones on the firing line

Expressing emotions against the turbulence

Fuelled by destitutional infringement

That violate the boundaries of acceptability

Pushing the perimeters exceeding palatability

To mercilessly insufferable heights

Enabling fatigued penurious souls

Releasing deluge from deep within

Beyond the powers that habitually disable

Untainted by Gods or masters of division 

Man made borders that cause so much pain,

Alive and kicking no holding back

Against forces of irrationality

The baiting poisonous gates of hate

Clarifying the confusion all around,

Encouraging other voices to smile

Dare to keep believing in a borderless world,

The power of music, poetry and song

Championing those with thirst for justice

Another world of peace and equality

Where love vanquishes malevolence.

Marking the Amritsar Massacre.

On April 13, 1919, around 10,000 unarmed men, women and children had gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh walled public garden in Amritsar angry about the recent extension of repressive measures and the arrest of two local leaders that had sparked violent protests three days before.

The 13th of April was also a big Vaisakhi spring festival, and the crowd — estimated by some at 20,000 — included pilgrims visiting the nearby Golden Temple sacred to Sikhs. All  meetings had been banned. The ban had not  however, been well publicised.

Brigadier General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer arrived with dozens of troops, sealed off the exit and without ordering  the crowd to disperse or giving any warning ordered the soldiers to open fire.

The crowd . started screaming  and panicking as Dyer ordered his men to keep firing until all their ammunition was exhausted.

Many tried to escape by scaling the high walls surrounding the area. Others jumped into a deep, open well at the site as the troops continued to fire..

One of several eyewitness accounts compiled by two historians and published in the Indian Express newspaper this week described the horror. "Heaps of dead bodies lay there, some on their backs and some with their faces upturned. A number of them were poor innocent children. I shall never forget the sight," said Ratan Devi, whose husband was killed..

This event is now known as the Amritsar Massacre, and it was a turning point in Indian history.The massacre galvanised the Indian independence movement and helped to create a united front against British colonialism.The Amritsar Massacre was a watershed moment in Indian history. It occurred at a time when the British Empire was facing increasing unrest from its colonies around the world. In India, the massacre served as a rallying point for the independence movement. Indians of all religions and castes came together to demand an end to British rule. The incident also helped to create a united front against British colonialism.

The British had been in control of India for nearly two centuries when the Amritsar Massacre occurred. In that time, the British had managed to amass a large amount of wealth and control over the country. They were not content with simply ruling India; they also sought to remake it in their own image. They did this by imposing Western values and ideas on the Indian people. This was particularly evident in the education system, which was designed to produce good citizens of the British Empire.

The Indians chafed under this heavy-handed rule. There were many uprisings against British rule, but none were successful in overthrowing the colonial power. The most serious challenge to British rule came from the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. This revolt was started by Hindu and Muslim soldiers in the British army who were upset about being forced to use cartridges that were greased with pork and beef fat. The mutiny was quickly put down, but it showed the potential for resistance to British rule.

After the completion of World War One in 1918, the British Empire was in a weak position. The war had drained the resources of the Empire, and there was widespread discontent among the colonised peoples.

In 1919, the British colonial authorities in India attempted to "reward" Indians for their participation in World War I by allowing them more representation. However, wartime restrictions on civil liberties were not immediately lifted.

The key events leading up to the massacre began in 1918, when the British implemented a series of repressive measures in India in response to rising nationalist sentiment. These measures included banning public meetings, censoring the press, and jailing political leaders without trial.

In India, this discontent manifested itself in the form of protests against the Rowlatt Acts. These were a set of laws that allowed the government to arrest and imprison people without trial. In several cases, the government curtailed freedom of speech and assembly to prevent violence or other disruptions.

The Rowlattt Acts outraged the Indian National Congress, which was the leading nationalist party at the time and included the leaders Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Motilal Nehru, and Mahatma Ghandi. The Congress called for a nationwide protest against the Acts on April 13, 1919.

The British authorities in India were concerned about the possibility of violence and sought to prevent the protest from taking place. They did this by declaring a curfew and banning public meetings. When these measures failed to stop the protests, they dispatched troops to disperse the crowds. Second, the British were facing increasing unrest from their colonies around the world. This made them nervous about potential uprisings in India. The Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, Michael O'Dwyer, felt that the British were the true rulers of India. He was also extremely concerned about the increasing cooperation between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs in Punjab at the time.

In an attempt to minimise civil unrest in the Punjab region, the British authorities banned nationalist leaders from travelling there, including Gandhi himself.In March 1919, two Indian nationalists, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew, were arrested for publishing articles critical of the British government. This event sparked protests across the country. The arrest of these leaders led to a peaceful protest at Jallianwala Bagh, a public square in Amritsar.

On April  13, 1919, a large crowd of unarmed civilians gathered in Jallianwala Bagh to protest against the Rowlatt Acts. The protest was peaceful and there was no violence. However, the British authorities saw it as a potential threat to their control over India.

Colonel Reginald Dyer, who was born and raised in India, led a contingent of soldiers toward the plaza. When their armored car, which was armed with a machine gun, could not fit into the little passageway leading to the plaza, they left it behind.

The decision was made to break up the crowd by force. On orders from Colonel Reginald Dyer, troops opened fire on the crowd. The protesters were unarmed and posed no threat to the British troops. However, General Reginald Dyer ordered the troops to continue firing for ten minutes.

People began to leap into a water well, and push through the limited gates that provided exits, to save themselves, and they were crushed by others who followed. The majority of them suffocated or perished when they were overcome with people running over them.

The exact number of people wounded or killed is unknown. Early estimates ranged from 291 dead (stated by British officials) to 1000 (stated by the Indian National Congress report). Reports suggest that 1650 rounds of ammunition had been fired, and others put the death toll of Panjabi citizens at over 1,000, with countless more injured. This number included men, women and children; with bodies infamously piling up in the nearby water well as victims desperately attempted to escape the carnage. A 6-week old baby was even recorded as one of the fatalities.

News of the barbarism was shamefully  suppressed by the British for wic months. and only when outrage of the atrocity mounted did Winston  Churchiill  describe  the attack as “monstrous” and Asquith as “one of the worst outrages in the whole of our history".

Following the bloodshed,  Dyer, became known as the "Butcher of  Amritsar" but to add insult to injury,  Dyer came home to a hero’s welcome. Rudyard Kipling named him the “the man who saved India” and donated £50 to his £26,000 tribute awarded on his triumphant return home and Dyer simply retired to live out his life without any consequence

However the  consequences of the massacre were far-reaching. The incident caused widespread outrage among Indians and increased support for the independence movement.

In 1920, the British government appointed a commission, called the 'Hunter Commission', to investigate the incident. The commission's report acknowledged that the shootings were unjustified and led to several reforms, including an end to martial law in India and the introduction of trial by jury bur only found Dwyer of committing a 'grave error." .

For many  these reforms were too little too late, and the damage had been done. The Amritsar Massacre remained a rallying point for Indian independence until the country finally achieved freedom in 1947.

On 13 March 1940, at Caxton Hall in London, Udham Singh, an Indian independence activist from Sunam who had witnessed the events in Amritsar and had himself been wounded, shot and killed O'Dwyer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab at the time of the massacre, who had approved Dyer's action and was believed to have been the main planner.

The common people and revolutionaries glorified the action of Udham Singh. Much of the press worldwide recalled the story of Jallianwala Bagh, and alleged O'Dwyer to have been responsible for the massacre. Singh was termed a "fighter for freedom" and his action was referred to in The Times newspaper as "an expression of the pent-up fury of the down-trodden Indian People". Reporter and historian Wlliam L Shiver wrote the next day, "Most of the other Indians I know [other than Gandhi] will feel this is divine retribution. O'Dwyer bore a share of responsibility in the 1919 Amritsar massacre, in which Gen. Dyer shot 1,500 Indians in cold blood. When I was at Amritsar eleven years after [the massacre] in 1930, the bitterness still stuck in the people there."

The memory of the Amritsar Massacre is kept alive by the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Act of 1951. The act established a trust to build a memorial on the site of the massacre. The memorial was finally completed in 1961 and opened to the public on 13 April 1961, exactly 42 years after the massacre took place. It now stands as a reminder of one of the darkest moments in British colonial rule in India.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, it is still an emotive subject with many demanding a British apology -- which so far has been unforthcoming.This massacre illustrated the raw brutality of British imperialism in India and showed the furthest extremes that the British were willing to go to to maintain Indian resources which were so valuable to them.

More recently, the Queen, during a visit to Amritsar in 1997, described the massacre as a “shameful scar on British-Indian history”,but her gaffe-prone husband Prince Philip stole the headlines by reportedly saying that the Indian estimates for the death count were "vastly exaggerated". An apology is not enough for an entire colonial legacy, but it is a crucial start. we should not forgive and most importantly. we must never forget. this cold , callous display of colonial evil.

Remembering Tom Hurndall , Peace Activist (27 November 1981 – 13 January 2004)

Twenty years ago on April 11 2003 Tom Hurndall  a young peace activist from North London was shot in the head by an Israeli military sniper as he was rescuing several small children from Israeli gunfire,

Thomas “Tom” Hurndall was an aspiring photojournalist who put himself at the service of the world. In 2002, he traveled through Europe, eventually making his way to Jordan and Egypt where he felt intrigued by the mix of cultures. In early 2003, he joined the anti-war movement against the invasion of Iraq and physically moved there. But as the invasion became more and more likely, he moved to Jordan to help provide medical services to Iraqi refugees. There, he discovered the International Solidarity Movement (ISM),  an organisation that use non-violent protest against the Israeli military in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,

On the 6th April.2003 as a photojournalist, hoping to document Palestinians' oppressive living conditions he moved to Rafah in the Gaza Strip.and not long after he began emailing images of the IDF and the Palestinians back to his family. In his Guardian obituary it says “the tone of his journals changed dramatically” with his arrival in Palestine.

Tom even wrote of the death of Rachel Corrie, who had been crushed to death by an Israeli defence force bulldozer while acting as a human shield near the Rafah refugee camp.https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2023/03/courage-to-resist-remembering-rachel.html

“I wonder how few or many people heard it on the news and just counted it as another death, just another number … ” wrote Tom.

  On   11th of April Tom and  and a group of activists were in the area of Rafah with the intention of setting up a peace tent on one of the nearby roads to block the IDF tank patrols, it was then that Israeli Sbipers started shooting.   As all ran for cover, Tom noticed that three of the many children previously playing in the road had become paralyzed with fear. Tom dashed towards one of the children and brought him to safety. He turned back to rescue another child, but as he approached, Israeli sharpshooter Taysir Hayb fired a round into his skull. Tom hit the ground bleeding, less than a week after moving to Palestine.

 At the time of the shooting Tom was in plain view of the sniper towers and was wearing a bright orange fluorescent jacket with reflective stripes and was clearly unarmed. According to other ISM activists “there was no shooting or resistance coming from the Palestinian side at all.” It is also reported that an ambulance came very quickly, about 2 minutes after the shooting..

After a  two  hour delay at the border of the Gaza strip, Tom’s ambulance was finally allowed through. Tom received emergency treatment in Be’ersheva Hospital before being transferring to London where he remained in a coma for nine months. He died on January 13, 2004  at the tender age of 22.

A year after his death, following the family's own investigation and their determined and impartial fight to see justice done after a cover-up by the Israeli Defence Force, Wahid Taysir Al Heib, the soldier who shot him was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to  eight years for Tom's manslaughter. It was an unprecedented outcome, and a case that made legal history in bringing the IDF to account for its killing of an unarmed civilian. 

Hayb was released on September 8, 2010, only having served six and a half years of his sentence after an army committe concluded that he “no longer posed any threat to society in their view.”.

O n 10 April 2006, a British inquest jury at St Pancras coroner’s court in London found that Hurndall had been “unlawfully killed”and found that the killing was intentional – in other words, murder.. Tom's  father told reporters that there had been a “general policy” to shoot civilians in the area without fear of retaliation, as stated by the soldier who fired the shot, Taysir Hayb. Hayb had earlier told a military tribunal that the Israeli army “fires freely in Rafah.”

On  January 10th, 2004, Jocelyn Hurndall, Tom’s mother, wrote a commentary in The Guardian, which stated: It seems that life is cheap in the occupied territories. Different value attached to life depends on whether the victim happens to be Israeli, international or Palestinian.”

 Tom’s shooting followed the murder of Rachel Corrie, run over by a bulldozer on the 16th March, and the near fatal shooting of Brian Avery, shot in the face in Jenin on April 5th.  Later that month, another Brit, filmmaker James Miller, was also killed by a sniper in Rafah. The Israeli military have refused to accept any responsibility for what they did to Rachel, Brian or James,

Tom's bravery and compassion should not be forgotten. Neither should the daily struggles of Gaza's Palestinians that he was working to show the world. since his death the occupation and oppression has got worse as apartheid Israel continue to lay siege on Gaza's 2 million inhabitants.

An annual lecture has been established to memorialise Tom's life, and to celebrate the ideals that he supported. Tom's mother Jocelyn Hurndall has also written a  powerful biography of him called ,My Son Tom: The Life and Tragic Death of Tom Hurndall. It is an elegy for a son, full of loss but also of hope. Written with honesty, dignity and insight, this moving story of a remarkable young man, a mother's love, and a devoted family gives a human face to a conflict that, directly and indirectly, affects us all.

On 13 October 2008, Channel 4 broadcast a dramatised documentary The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall,[18] which was written by Simon Block and directed by Rowan Joffe. Stephen Dillane plays Anthony Hurndall and Kerry Fox plays Jocelyn Hurndall. Anthony and Jocelyn Hurndall were interviewed at length in The Observer prior to the airing of the documentary:Hurndall.

Tom had been in Palestine for less than ten days before his life was ended by the murderers of the Israeli army. If it had not been for them, his work would no doubt have developed and grown. Like thousands of Palestinians, who do not have books devoted to their final works, his life was brutally cut short.

Toml kept a journal throughout his travels which are collected in. The Only House Left Standing:The Middle East Journals of Tom Hurndall in which he wrote discerningly about the injustices he had witnessed in Gaxa  that had a profound effect on him/ in one of his final entries he wrote  “What do I want from this life? What makes you happy is not enough. All the things that satisfy our instincts only satisfy the animal in us. I want to be proud of myself. I want more. I want to look up to myself and when I die, I want to smile because of the things I have done, not cry for the things I haven’t done.” 

 His commitment, courage, and love of life reminds us of the universality of human rights for all peoples – Tom’s decision to drop everything and go to Gaza to stand by Palestinians there, his generous gesture, encapsulates these principles. Tom remains a symbol of humanity, bravery and solidarity..His memory will live on forever.

International Roma Day

Today is International Roma Day.which celebrates and recognises, the rich history, culture, language of their communities. International Romani Day has its roots in the first significant international meeting of Roma representatives, which was held in Chelsfield, United Kingdom, near London from April 7 to 12, 1971, organised by the World Council of Churches and the Government of India. The Congress was attended by 23 representatives from nine nations, including the former Czechoslovakia, Finland, Norway,France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Spain and the former Yugoslavia. There were also individuals from Belgium, Canada, India and the United States, and  they formed a political agenda with the intent to achieve emancipation and equality for the Roma.

Several sub-commissions were created to look closely at social affairs, education, war crimes, language and culture. Another key outcome of the first Congress was the turn towards using the word ‘Roma’ rather than ‘Gypsy’ or other variants. While it’s true that here in Britain ‘Gypsy’, ‘Roma’ and ‘Traveller’ are all used, in Europe and abroad the preferred term is Roma. The Roma flag was also promoted as the national emblem and a rousing anthem (Gelem, Gelem).

 

 The Roma flag was created by the General Union of Roma in Romania in 1933. It was adopted by international Roma representatives in 1971, becoming known as the international Roma flag. The symbolism of the blue color coincides with the sky, while the green with the earth and the harvest. The flag, as a symbol of fire, movement and progress, also bears a red wheel (chakra), linking it to the Indian origin of the Roma.

The 1971 Congress was a landmark event and pushed a narrative forward which influenced how Roma people were talked about and included in the social, cultural and political spheres for years to come. The message to the world was that this community was active, organised and demanding an end to human rights violations against it. A few years later, at the fourth Congress, it was decided that 8 April would become International Roma Day. Since 1990, the day has been celebrated across the globe and Roma from all walks of life who honour it in a variety of ways.

Originally, the Roma were itinerant court musicians from South Asia, specifically present-day India and Pakistan. The Romani have their own cultural language and genetic makeup, despite the fact that they are travellers who conform to the cultures of their host communities. During the Middle Ages, Roma migrated to Turkey, France, and Spain. Romani culture merged with Iberian, Jewish, Muslim, and Moorish cultures upon their arrival in Spain, giving rise to the Flamenco people.

The Romani's own language,  Romani, "Romani", is an Indo-Aryan language, part of the Indo-European language family. It would be spoken from the beginning of the Middle Ages only in the diaspora, outside India. Today it is an integral part of European linguistic diversity. There have been many scholars who have tried to formalize it by bringing in various primers and dictionaries. Already, their language continues to be well preserved and spoken worldwide in various dialects. It has many dialects, and spelling or word choice can differ between groups. Most Romani are multilingual, but their own language is a point of pride and connectivity for the Romani people.

 Modern Romani usually live in caravans or similar vehicles, but between the mid 1800s and early 1900s, they used horse-drawn wagons, or vardos.

 Roma are widely known for their traditional music and dance. Their music has even influenced classical music composers such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahams. Violin, guitar and clarinet are the favorite instruments of Roma musicians. As for their traditional dance, they have preserved elements from India, blending in with details taken from the culture of the countries in which the Roma lived. Their typical dance is the flamenco, which represents the most obvious example of the Roma contribution to the general style of dance. Roma, too, have developed their traditions in poetry and painting. 

Roma have also excelled in handicrafts, such as metalworking, embroidery and jewelry carving. Handmade straw baskets are another typical Roma product. Roma clothing Traditional clothing is still widely used in some Roma communities. Women wear long skirt tied at the left of the waist, a neckline blouse, a bolero vest, an apron and colorful earrings.

My solidarity goes out to all Roma people worldwide who are still experiencing  massive inequality and huge amounts of racism,  discrimination and exclusion state sponsored  and otherwise.

Romani people have suffered  persecution throughout their history, having left Northern India/Pakisan around one thousand years ago. In the ensuring centuries they have spread across many countries across the globe. Europe, North and South America, Russia, China and the Middle East. Some were nomadic people. Others tried to settle but were met with hostility and either abandoned their identities or became nomadic like their brothers and sisters. What remained however and strong, was that on the move or in settlements, was a tight knit community, but still faced ongoing discrimination. racial oppression and persecution due to their nomadic lifestyle and dark skin. During the Middle Ages, the Romani were executed in England, Switzerland, and Denmark, and Germany, Italy, and Portugal ordered the expulsion of all Romani.

Lest not forget either that Hitler named Romani people ‘enemies of the race based state’, and though official figures do not exactly exist, historians estimate that between 220,000 and 500,000 Romani and Sinti,from Central Europe were killed in the 1930s and 1940s. the Nazis  killing about 25 percent of Europe's entire Roma (a.k.a. Gypsy) population, accounting for half their total population at  the time. This genocide, known in the Romani language, as Porajimas which can translate as “destruction.” It's remembered as the worst event in their peoples' history. Other Romani people in the Balkans prefer to use the term 'samudaripen,' translating as “mass killing,” but there's still no general consensus in the community regarding how to call this tragedy, sometimes even borrowing the word 'holokausto.'
Roma persecution by the Nazi regime began in 1933 and during the 1936 Olympic Games, the Roma and Sinti were forcibly relocated to a camp on the outskirts and were not allowed to leave unless they had a job. Their property was confiscated and sold; they were never compensated. Between 1933 and 1945, more than 400,000 people were forcibly sterilised by the Nazis, including thousands of Roma and Sinti, In the late 1930s, the first deportations of Roma to concentration camps began. While the yellow star worn by the Jewish victims of the Holocaust is best known, the Roma had their own symbols, brown or black triangles, symbolising their ethnicity and their inherent ‘anti-social’ status.

Today, the Romani people are still subject to racial stereotyping, often caricatured as mysterious fortune tellers and cunning thieves. Many Romani report segregation and harassment in schools and in the workplace, as well as a lower standard of healthcare and education and repeated forced evictions. That’s why it’s so important for us to understand more about their unique culture and heritage, to overcome the stereotypes and recognise the struggles faced by this remarkable people

Today it is important to remember that many Roma continue to suffer from systemic discrimination and violence. The discriminatory treatment and stereotyping prevents Roma from fully participating in political, social and economic life around the world. Roma experience  exclusion, violence and repression in the countries where they live. They are forced to live in conditions that are degrading to human beings.Approximately 80% of Romani in Europe live in abject destitution. They are discriminated against in the labour market because of their ethnic identity.

Racism and discrimination against Roma and Travellers remain alarmingly rife in Europe, nowhere has this been more evident in recent times than in the appalling reports received regarding some border officials’ refusal to allow Roma refugees, who are fleeing Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, the right either to leave Ukraine or to enter neighbouring States. Such refusals are based on spurious grounds, and notably on racist assumptions that Roma are not ‘genuine’ refugees. In other cases, lack of ID – a longstanding issue for Roma in many European States – has made border crossings more difficult. In addition, some Roma who have been able to leave Ukraine have also been confronted with racism in receiving States, including segregation, unfavourable treatment compared with other refugees, and racist attitudes among law-enforcement officials, volunteers or the population more generally.

The racism against Roma often goes unnoticed or even becomes normalised. It has its origins in how the majority views and treats those considered “gypsies”, who have endured a process of historical “othering”, which builds on stereotypes, even unintentional or unconscious attitudes, that result in a still widely accepted form of racism against Roma.

Its various expressions include hate speech, discrimination, hate crime, and other harmful practices, resulting in many Roma people’s exclusion, segregation and poverty. It leads to a perception of Roma people as a homogenous group that is helpless, inferior and anti-social.

Unfortunately, little effort has been made by national governments in order to lift Roma people from this precarious situation. This day is therefore a chance to remind European and world leaders to implement effective anti-discrimination measures and legislative and policy initiatives to protect and promote the human rights of all minorities, including Roma.

But responsibility rests not only on the shoulders of public authorities, but on all of us. We cannot allow desensitisation to divide us and put barriers between us. We need to continue to cast a light on the human rights issues.prejudice and violations faced by Romani people around the world. Lets show a gratitude to a beautiful community that so enriches our lives and continue to reject the negative stereotypes. racial stereotyping and bias that impacts their way of life.International Roma Day is above all, a day of celebration and awareness of the unity, autonomy, and diversity of Roma communities.

We urgently need to move beyond  anti-gypsyist attitudes. First and very simply, because no one should ever be subject to racism or discrimination. And second, because stereotypes and prejudice prevent us from seeing the contributions that Roma and Travellers make to European societies every day.

Today, lets  express our solidarity with the Roma people, and with all persons working to guarantee them safety and shelter. Now, more than ever, it is time to topple racist stereotypes. Let us stamp out anti-gypsyism attitudes and prejudice once and for all.

Hands off Al-Aqsa, and Hands off Palestine.

On Tuesday the 4th and Wednesday the 5th of April, the world watched idly as videos and reports emerged across the internet of Palestinians being beaten, brutalised and forcibly raided inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the middle of their prayers firing rubber bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas at Palestinian worshippers. These events left at least 12 Palestinians injured, and over 400 were arrested on the first night. Following the raid, Israeli violence spread across the west bank. Dozens have been hurt by inhaling poisonous gas fired by Israeli forces, and a settler in occupied East Jerusalem shot a Palestinian child. .

To commit such an unlawful and inhumane act is vile any day of the year, but to repeatedly do so during the holy month of Ramadan, a month that is bestowed upon Muslims to commit to good deeds and reconnect with God, is utterly shocking.In the 24 hours preceding this, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians across the occupied West Bank. This took the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in 2022 to 47.

Occupation and injustice is something Palestinians have faced everyday since 1948, but it becomes especially unbearable to watch  when Palestinians face brutality inside a place of worship. Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site to Muslims around the globe,after the two holy mosques in Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia.
Not only are the Palestinian people forbidden from entering their holy mosque but fanatic Jews also routinely violate the sanctity of the place under protection of the Israeli police. Since annexing the holy city more than half a century ago, Israel did whatever it could to prove that Al-Aqsa Mosque stood on remains of the so-called Temple. But Israel failed to discover anything that could prove this assumption. Failing in this attempt, the Israeli government began executing an old scheme to divide the place among Jews and Muslims as it did with the other holy mosque in Hebron.
Noticeably, the Israeli government has recently escalated its provocations.
Sensing that these Israeli measures will further aggravate the current situation in the Middle East, many countries have urged Israel to restrain its settlers and allow the Palestinians free access to the Noble Sanctuary. Despite international calls, Israel is not doing anything to calm the situation.

As some Palestinians fought back, news reports from outlets such as the BBC described the events as “clashes” resulting from “tensions” between Muslims and Jews wishing to pray at the same sites during Ramadan and Passover.

In fact, it’s about much more than religion.It’s about Palestinians’ right to live and worship freely in their own city.

Al-Aqsa Mosque and the surrounding Old City are centres of Palestinian life in Jerusalem, especially during Ramadan. They are not actually in Israel but  the state of Israel has kept this area under military occupation since 1967 and wants to claim it for its own, pushing Palestinians out.

The state uses apartheid laws to evict Palestinians, demolish their homes and remove their residency rights constantly. And its police clear the way for Israeli settler activists who seek the destruction of the mosque to stage provocative acts of worship there.

Following the raid on Al-Aqsa on Wednesday night, Israeli settlers were escorted to Al-Aqsa by Israeli forces on Thursday morning. Prior to their arrival, Palestinian worshippers were forced out so that it could be secured for the settlers for the first day of the Jewish Passover holiday. This double standard is not uncommon for Israel as it is inherent to the structure of the settler-colonial state. Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem (80% of the Palestinian population) under Israeli control are not citizens and cannot become citizens of the state in which they live, nor can they vote for the government which controls their lives. The other 20% of Palestinians, who have Israeli citizenship, have a 2nd class status. 

In June 1967, Israel occupied what is usually referred to as the West Bank, including East Jerusalem where Al-Aqsa Mosque is situated. In fact, these territories were under Jordan’s administrative control since 1951. Originally, they were given to the Palestinians, the indigenous inhabitants of the land, in accordance with the UN partition plan that divided historic Palestine between immigrant Jews and the Palestinian people who refused to accept this plan and continued resisting it by all means.
According to the Geneva Convention and UN Security Council’s resolutions, these territories are occupied territories that should be returned back to their lawful owners.
But Israel has never acceded to any international resolution because it enjoys protection from punishment by the US and British. Availing itself of the present chaos in the Middle East, the Israeli government has recently increased its provocations against the Palestinian people — Christians and Muslims — and their holy places

Since January 7, over 100,000 Israeli settlers have been protesting every Saturday in response to a judicial overhaul that was proposed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government. The protestors say the reform plan that has now been suspended, is a threat to democracy.   The idea that Israeli “democracy” can be protected by blocking the judicial overhaul is a myth. Any plans Israel had for democracy were destroyed when they began the Nakba in 1948. In fact, the reform plan is a product of the settler colonial state, as it would allow the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes even more efficiently than before, a fundamental goal of the Zionist movement.   We must ask: What are these protestors really fighting to maintain? How can there be democracy in an apartheid state? Whose democracy is this?  

This is a fight to maintain and protect the status quo for Israelis, not Palestinians who have been denied all basic democratic rights under Israel since 1948. For Palestinians, there is no democracy.  Despite these blatant acts of unjustified violence committed by Israel, there is no outrage among Israelis. The tens of thousands of people who showed up just last week to protect democracy are suddenly silent. Moreover, Palestinian worshippers are beaten by Israel all the time, this violence is routine during Ramadan.

In 2021, Israel unleashed an 11-day bombardment on Gaza during Ramadan and there has been no outcry by Israelis to prevent that from happening. This is evidence that the movement for democracy in Israel is not about democracy at all, but about maintaining the apartheid state of Israel as it has existed for the past 75 years - at the expense of Palestinians. It is insulting for Israelis to launch this “democracy” movement when Palestinians have been ignored for decades.

Last night Israeli forces  bombed Gaza. causing further destruction to an area that is still struggling to rebuild from Israel's previous assaults. The Israeli apartheid government's escalating attacks show that decades of indifference to Palestinian human rights have emboldened Israel's oppression,Whilst Palestinians are risking their lives everyday to protect a historical landmark that is considered sacred to these two billion Muslims, the world stays silent. And if history has taught us anything, it is that silence is as harmful as complicity, it is time for the international community to take concrete actions in opposition to Israel's racist actions and policies.

Friends and supporters of Palestine in the UK are called to take part in a mass protest in front of the Israeli Embassy in Central London (2 Palace Green, London W8 4QB), today Friday, April 7, 2023, at  3.30pm. The protest will end at 5:30pm, to give those who need to go home for Iftar time to do so.

The demonstration condemns the repeated Israeli attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan, as well as the recent inhumane strikes in Gaza.

Organized by the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB), Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Stop War coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB),the parties calling for the protest are demanding the occupational forces to respect the historical and religious value of the Holy Mosque and stop the provocations of the Zionists which, from the parties’ point of view, will only lead to an escalation of violence and tension on the ground.Hands off Al-Aqsa, and hands off Palestine.

On Palestinian Land Day: Remembering that the Palestinian right of return refuses to be Forgotten. .

 

Today, 30th March, is Yorn al Ard//Land Day in Palestine one of the most important days marking  Palestinian resistance  to Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Land Day is held on the anniversary of March 30, 1976,when Palestinian villages and cities across the country witnessed mass demonstrations against the states plans to expropriate 2,000 hectares of land in and around the Arab villages of Araba and Sakhnin as a part of a plan to "Judaise the Galilee".Israel's Galilee region. In coordination with the military, some 4,000 police officers were  dispatched to quell the unrest. At the end of the day, six Palestinian citizens of Israel were brutally killed, and over one hundred injured by state security forces.

The Day of the land - or Land Day marked the first mass mobilization of Palestinians within Israel against internal colonialism and land theft. It also signalled the failure of Israel to subjugate Palestinians who remained in their towns and villages, after around 700,000 of them were either expelled or forced to flee battles or massacres committed by Zionist armed groups in 1948.It's commemoration is a reaffirmation that the Palestinians who remained in the area on which Israel was declared in 1948, are an inseperable part of the Palestinian people and their struggle.

This important day in Palestinian history commemorates the Palestinians sense of belonging to a people, to a cause and a country, to stand united against racial oppression and rules of apartheid,and the discriminatory practices of the Israeli government, giving continual potency to the Palestinians cause , its quest for justice and Palestinian rights, and its resistance to injustice,who never cease to fight for their land while holding passionately to their history and identity. It is the right of return, recognised in the United Nations Resolution 194, that drives Palestinians to continue with the commemoration of Land Day - regardless of their geographical location. and reveals Palestinians’ unyielding commitment to every single inch of their native land.

The day is celebrate annually by Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and further afield in refugee camps and among the Palestinian diaspora worldwide, with demonstrations, marches and by planting olive and fruit trees, in honor of Indigenous sumud (resilience). 

Sumud  is the concept most frequently employed to describe the daily reality experienced by Palestinians in the occupied territories and those caught up in the ongoing diaspora, translates as steadfastness and refers to a form of everyday resistance, and describes a stubborn insistence on continuing with life despite all obstacles.

 Land Day is typically met with violent Israeli repression, yet  this movement gained a renewed surge in 2018 when thousands of Palestinians — families, people of all ages, and genders — commemorated Land Day by peacefully walking towards the border areas along the Gaza Strip. They dubbed this the Great March of Return and originally intended to highlight the sacrifices of those who resisted and continue to resist land acquisition; it was also a protest against Israel’s 10-year long siege of Gaza. 

It was land that motived them to start this largely non-violent protest which was met with Israeli fire and snipers. Israel claimed the lives of hundreds of Palestinians at the Great March of Return, and thousands more lives before and since then. But it is beyond doubt, that Israel has failed to erase the love in the hearts of all Palestinians for their land.

Since the Great March of Return, Palestinians in Gaza have held weekly marches towards a security fence put up by Israel. They mainly attempt to break the siege around their territory and demand their land back as well.

On March 29, 2002, at the height of the Second Intifada, Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield, a devastating military assault that killed nearly 500 Palestinians, wounded over 1400, and left over 17,000 Palestinians homeless.  Though these events all happened years apart, they serve as a great representation of the realities of ongoing Israeli settler-colonialism, ethnic cleansing, occupation, and apartheid today.

Today many of the Land Day protests  against the theft of their lands focus on the Negev region, since much of the land that has been marked for appropriation in the Galilee has already been confiscated. The Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel also now face the appropriation of 800,000 dunams of the Negev by the Israeli state.The housing situation for the Bedouin remains dire. Settlements that house 160,000 people are deemed "illegal" by Israel, and risk demolition. The issue of land allocation and housing for Palestinian citizens of Israel has now reached crisis point.

Land seizures remain an essential part of Israeli policy that can be seen regularly applied in area ‘C’ within the West Bank, that is under the full Israeli control. As a result of such measures, and the continued attacks on these lands, and inaccessibility to basic services provided to the people living there, most of the Palestinians have been forced to leave the area that is now considered de facto annexed to the occupying state of Israel who  has squeezed the Palestinian population, of some 5.3 million, to live in less that 9% of Mandate Palestine. 

Land Day remains poignantly relevant as Israel continues to confiscate land, expand their colonies, and  build their illegal settlements in flagrant violation of all international conventions, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law.

Land day  has come to symbolise the struggle of the Palestinian people for their legitimate rights to their own land, homes and property; indeed, their legitimate right to their homeland and for its people to  proudly declare that they are one from the River to the Sea.

As we commemorate the Palestinian Land Day, let us continue to  strongly condemn Israel’s apartheid regime and policies that has  consistently displaced Palestinians from their native lands, simultaneously destroying their ecosystems It is also worth noting that while some 10 million Palestinians live in refugee camps struggling and demanding to return to their land since they were displaced starting in 1948 with the Nakba,

This Land Day, Palestinians across the board are resisting ethnic cleansing from al-Walaja, Jerusalem, to Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills, to Al-Naqab desert in what is known as Israel today, to the Jordan Valley, to Gaza, and beyond and call for long-overdue sanctions on apartheid Israel.

On Palestinian Land Day we can express our solidarity through our deep commitment to continue working towards ending the prevailing violations and work towards bringing about a just peace. Against a backdrop of Israeli forces, murdering over 90 Palestinians. amd wounding over 2.000 so far this year, with land theft, ethnic cleansing, home demolitions and settlement expansion increasing at an alarming rate,settler  organisations  have been further emboldened by a new Israeli government that is worrying even more right wing than its predecessors that threatens even more annexations. creating conditions that will make like for the  Palestinian's more unbearable than it is now.

On this important day in the Palestinian struggle for liberation,as they renew their commitment to the struggle for freedom. justice and  return, our strength must be drawn from their resistance and steadfastness/that has not ceased since 1976 against those that seek to sever the connection they have to their land.

The day of the land reminds us that the Palestinian right of return enshrined in international law is inextricably linked to the right of existence that refuses to be forgotten. The Palestinian  people have suffered enough and their collective pain must not be allowed to continue.

The international community must  take firm and principled actions to promote the human rights and dignity of the Palestinians.and their access and use  of their land and Properties,and defend the rights of the Palestinian People and hold Israel accountable to its obligations under international humanitarian Law. 

I would like to draw attention to the Keep Hope Alive – Olive Tree Campaign, that  helpa Palestinian farmers, access, maintain and save their land. Olive trees and harvests have an exceptionally important place in Palestinian culture, especially in villages where farming is the main source of income for Palestinian families. Palestinians and especially farmers have always looked at olive trees as a national symbol that should be kept and protected as it speaks of the thousands of years of their history in Palestine. This special importance has been expressed in the Palestinian culture, through oral history, songs, and poetry.

The Land Day strike  inspired the following  two poems, the first by Tawfiq Zayyad, ,and then another strong poem by the pen  of Mahmoud Darwish that continues to resonate across the Palestinian generations.

Here we will stay - Tawfiq Zayyad ( 7/5/ 29 - 5/7/ 94)

In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee,
we shall remain
like a wall upon your chest,
and in your throat
like a shrad of glass,
a cactus thron,
and in your eyes
a sandstorm.
We shall remain
a wall upon your chest,
clean dishes in your restaurants,
serve drinks in your bars,
sweep the floors of your kitchens
to snatch a bite for our children
from your blue fangs.
Here we shall stay,
sing our songs,
take to the angry streets,
fill prisons with dignity.
In Lidda, in Ramla, in the galilee,
we shall remain,
guard the shade of the fig
and olive trees,
ferment rebellion in our children
as yeast in the dough.

To our Land - Mahmoud Darwish

To our land,
and it is the one near the word of god,
a ceiling of clouds
To our land,
and it is the one far from the adjectives of nouns,
the map of absence
To our land,
and it is the one tiny as a sesame seed,
a heavenly horizon ... and a hidden chasm
To our land
and it is the one poor as a grouses wings
holy books . . . and an identity wound
To our land,
and it is the one surrounded with torn hills,
the ambush of a new past
To our land, and it is a prize of war,
the freedom to die from longing and burning
and our land, in its bloodied night
is jewel that glimmers for the far upon the far
and illuminates whats outside it . . .
As for us , inside,
we suffocate more !

Translated by Fady Joudah

Sad Farewell to Paul "Lily Savage" O'Grady.

A sad farewell to the much loved British television presenter, actor, and comedian Paul "Lily Savage" O'Grady who has passed at the age of 67  “unexpectedly but peacefully” on Tuesday evening which was confirmed by his husband Andre Portasio Ourtia.

Born in Birkenhead in 1955 on the Wirral, to a working-class Irish immigrant family/ In 2015, he told a reporter that despite his wealth, he still felt “very much” working-class, saying, “I know that probably sounds strange. Mentally, I still am. I’m still thinking, have I got the rent for Friday?”

His mother’s maiden name was Savage, which inspired his act. So did other female relatives and clients he met during his early career as a social worker. He performed as Lily in a solo show that ran for eight years at South London’s famed Royal Vauxhall Tavern and became renowned for speaking out about LGBT rights, notably the Aids crisis, police harassment and Section 28. He combined warm compassion with outrageously spiky wit – a rare combination that stood him in good stead throughout a glittering, eclectic career.

 Rather than dressing in Hollywood-style super-glam like most drag acts of the era, O’Grady consciously made Lily a streetwise everywoman. “I gave her cheap clothes, visible roots, a tattoo and a lovebite,” he later recalled on Michael Parkinson’s chat show. “Her heels were scuffed and she had holes in her tights. She was a divorced ex-prostitute with two children and a fondness for booze and drugs. Next thing I knew, she was on primetime telly. What happened there?”

O'Grady took his deliciously naughty foul mouthed Lily from pubs to peak time television. All in an age when homophobia was the ‘norm’! He helped break those barriers down, as an activist  while lending his  voice  to those to scared to come out.

After  O’Grady killed off Savage in 2005, claiming Lily had “seen the light, taken the veil and packed herself off to a convent in France”. Thereafter he took centre stage as himself. As the host of the Paul O’Grady Show and Paul O’Grady Live he could be just as caustic as Savage.

In 2010 he provoked complaints to Ofcom for attacking the new coalition government during Paul O’Grady Live. “Do you know what got my back up?” he told his ITV audience. “Those Tories hooping and hollering when they heard about the cuts. Gonna scrap the pensions – yeah! – no more wheelchairs – yeah! ... I bet when they were children they laughed at Bambi when the mother got shot.”

In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, O’Grady stated that he was “ashamed” of the state of the country under the Tories, particularly in regards to the underfunding of the National Health Service (NHS). He also expressed his belief that the austerity measures implemented by the government had caused unnecessary hardship for many people.aul O'Grady never compromis

O’Grady also criticised the Conservative Party’s stance on issues such as Brexit, climate change and LGBTQ+ rights. In a 2017 interview with The Independent, he accused the Tories of “destroying the country” and said that he would “rather eat a wasp” than vote for them.

In 2019, O’Grady made headlines after he accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of being a “buffoon” and a “complete and utter disgrace”, after Johnson made comments about Muslim women wearing burqas. O’Grady also accused the Conservative Party of deliberately stoking racial tensions for political gain.

While some criticized O’Grady for his political activism, many of his fans applauded him as a national treasure for using his platform to speak out on issues he was passionate about. O’Grady’s comments on the Tories are just one example of his willingness to use his voice to effect change and hold those in power to account. accountable, proving .to be more effective in opposition to the viciously cruel Tories than the brown nosed subservient Starmer and his treacherous Blairtes ever could.

An iconic trailblazer,passionate campaigner and  fantastically funny observer of real life who laughed with us cried with us and offered support to those who had no voices at all, he remains a national treasure admired by many because he never compromised  his beliefs for anyone, while breaking down  barriers for gay rights and mainstream acceptance.

He should be remembered as a fiercely defiant gay man whose  righteous fury against the establishment should remain a battle cry for us all.  My thoughts go out to his loved ones, his family and his friends,.

Rest in Peace Paul "Lily Savage"  O'Grady.

Marking Revolutionary Freedom Fighter Bhagat Singh's Death Anniversary.

 

After being ruled by the British for almost 200 years, India got its independence on August 15, 1947, after years of revolts, struggle and freedom battles that entailed blood, sweat and sacrifices of numerous sons and daughters of the soil. Many names were recorded in the archives, many more were not. However, the country pays tribute to all those who martyred in the freedom struggle by observing Shaheed Diwas. or Martyrs’ Day is celebrated in India on seven different  occasions in a year. One of these occasion is on March 23 which marks the death anniversaries of revolutionary freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru and their story of sacrifice is now considered to be one of the most inspirational chapters of the Indian freedom movement which has continued to inspire generations many years laters to fight for their rights. ..

Bhagat Singh who would become popularly known as Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat was born on September 28, 1907, in Banga village of Lyallpur district ,western Punjab, India  which is now in Pakistan to Kishan Singh and Vidyavati. At the time of his birth, his father Kishan Singh, uncles Ajit and Swaran Singh were in jail for demonstrations against the Colonization Bill implemented in 1906. His uncle, Sardar Ajit Singh, was a proponent of the movement and established the Indian Patriots' Association.

 Bhagat Singh attended Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School, which was operated by Arva Samai (a reform sect of modern Hinduism), and then National College, both located in Lahore.

Bhagat Singh’s  Sikh family was politically active and were advocates of independence. His father and his uncles Ajit Singh and Schwann Singh were active in progressive politics, taking part in the agitation around the Canal Colonization Bill in 1907, and later the Ghadar Movement of 1914–1915. The presence of such revolutionary people at home had a profound impact on Bhagat Singh.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 at Armistar when he was only 12  after a large peaceful crowd had gathered to protest against the arrest of pro-Indian independence leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satya Pal. in which in response to the public gathering, the British Brigadier-General R. E. H. Dyer surrounded the Bagh with his soldiers and ordered his troops to open fire on the nationalist meeting brutally killing hundreds  and  the violence against unarmed Akali protestors at Nankana Sahib  in 1921 also all left a huge impact on the young Bhagat Singh and as a result of decided to join the freedom struggle in the fight against colonialism. 

He joined the non-violence movement of Mahatma Gandhi.but felt disillusioned with Gandhi's idea of non-violence as the latter called off the non-cooperation movement which was started after the Jallianwala Bagh incident. and as he was attracted to Marxist ideologies and also influenced by Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

In 1923, he joined the National College in Lahore, founded two years earlier by Lala Lajpat Rai in response to Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement, which urged Indian students to shun schools and colleges subsidized by the British Indian government.

The following year Singh became a member of the Hindustan Republican Association, a revolutionary organization that believed in armed struggle against British colonial rule in India that was  started by Sachindranath Sanyal a year earlier. The main organizer of the Association was Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh became very close to him.

Initially, Bhagat Singh’s activities were limited to writing corrosive articles against the British Government, printing and distributing pamphlets outlining principles of a violent uprising, aimed at overthrowing the Government. Considering his influence on the youth, and his association with the Akali movement, he became a person of interest for the government.The police arrested him in a bombing case that took place in 1926 in Lahore. He was released 5 months later on a 60,000 rupees bond. 

In 1926, he founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, an organization that aimed to encourage revolution against British rule by rallying the peasants and workers.

He made contact with the ‘Workers and Peasants Party’ which brought out the monthly magazine Kirti in Punjabi. For the next year, Bhagat Singh worked on the editorial board of Kirti.

In 1928, he established the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) along with Sukhdev Thapar, Chandrashekhar Azad and others. However after Azad was shot dead in 1930.the HSRA collapsed.

Singh popularised the slogan "Inqilab Zindabad". which can be translated as “Long Live Revolution”  that became  one of the most famous slogans during the Indian freedom struggle. It was used by Shahid-e-Azam Bhagat Singh throughout his speeches and writings.The slogan was originally coined by the Urdu poet and Indian freedom fighter Maulana Hasrat Mohani in 1921. 

In October, 1928, the British government of India appointed the Simon Commission to enquire into the possibility of granting India the chance to rule itself. That this Commission had no Indian representative made it the focus of popular attack in Lahore. Lajpat Rai was at the head of a peaceful demonstration that was asking the Simon Commission to go back to England.

Despite the non-violent nature of the demonstration, the Superintendent of Police, James A Scott, ordered the police to use batons to disperse the protesters.and Lala Lajpat Rai sustained fatal injuries during the clash.The revolutionaries although great critics of Lajpat Rai and his politics, were determined to avenge his death. The Assistant Superintendent of Police, J.P. Saunders who is believed to have hit Lala Lajpat Rai directly, was assassinated by Bhagat Singh, and his associates Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru..

On the next day in Lahore, there were public notices put up in the name of the Indian Socialist Democratic Army. One such notice declared, 'We regret having killed a human being but this man was a part of that unmerciful and unjust system that must be destroyed... Sometimes it is important to shed blood for a Revolution. The Revolution we envisage is one where the exploitation of man by man will finish... Inquilab Zindabad.'

The murder was condemned as a retrograde action by Mahatma Gandhi, but Jawaharlal Nehru  later wrote:

“Bhagat Singh did not become popular because of his act of terrorism but because he seemed to vindicate, for the moment, the honor of Lala Lajpat Rai, and through him of the nation. He became a symbol, the act was forgotten, the symbol remained, and within a few months each town and village of Punjab, and to a lesser extent in the rest of northern India, resounded with his name. Innumerable songs grew about him and the popularity that the man achieved was something amazing.”

In March 1928, the government introduced the Public Safely Bill in the Legislative Assembly. The Indian members rejected the Bill and in 1929, the Viceroy attempted to pass it as an ordinance. The Naujawan Bharat Sabha passed resolutions opposing this and the Trade Dispute Bill and it finally decided to intervene directly. On 8th April, 1929, Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt threw a small explosive in the Assembly and stayed in the visitors' gallery till they were arrested. On 7th May, Bhagat Singh's trial began and in the statement made in court on 6th June, Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt, representing the HSRA declared, 'we dropped the bomb on the floor of the Assembly Chamber to register our protest on behalf of those who had no other means left to give expression to their heart-rending agony. Our sole purpose was to make the deaf hear and to give the heedless a timely warning... from under the seeming stillness of the sea of humanity, a veritable storm is about to break out' 

On the 12th June, Bhagat Singh whose revolutionary ideas were becoming immensely popular during the freedom struggle, and seen as a threat by the empire, was sentenced to transportation in the Assembly Bomb case.

Singh considered  himself a political prisoner along with others, noted the discrimination between the European and the Indian prisoners. The political prisoners demanded equality in food standards, clothing, toiletries, and other hygienic necessities, as well as access to books and a daily newspaper.

 Singh along with other prisoners underwent a hunger strike. Failed attempts were made to break the strike by the government. With the nationwide popularity of the hunger strike, the government decided to advance the Lahore Conspiracy Case and Singh was transported to Bostal Jail in Lahore and the trial needless to say, which was one-sided started on 10 July 1929 and ended on the 7th of October, 1930 with a death sentence which was widely opposed and many attempts were made to challenge the decision.

When Bhagat Singh’s mother went to visit him in jail, he was believed to be laughing loudly. Everyone around him was shocked. Most of them considered that he was close to death. Reports suggest that the revolutionary leader was smiling  when he was was hanged along with his comrades Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru on March 23, 1931, at the age of 23 and it is said that the trio proceeded quite cheerfully towards the gallows while chanting their favourite slogans like “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Down with British Imperialism”. Singh and his peers were cremated at Hussainiwala on the banks of Sutlej River.

Despite his short life, Bhagat Singh's death had the effect that he desired and he inspired thousands of youths to assist the reminder of the Indian Independence movement. After his hanging, youths in regions around Northern India rioted in protest against the British Raj and also against the indifference of the congress. To this day he is revered by many as a symbol of resistance to British colonialism in India, and his example continues to inspire new generations of activists worldwide.  

Apart from being a freedom fighter,participating in various acts of resistance against British rule in India. Bhagat Singh was also a great speaker, reader, writer and journalist.for Punjabi and Urdu language newspapers. He was moulded and guided by not only the political situation in India but also by the situation in Asia, Europe and America. The Russian revolution and Marxist writings and literature on the Soviet Union captured his imagination when he was in his teens. By the time he was 20, Bhagat Singh had devoured books on the theories of socialism, economics and revolution in European countries.

According to historian J.N. Sanyal, Bhagat Singh was an extremely well-read man and his special sphere of study was socialism and the economic experiment in Russia under the Bolshevik regime that  greatly interested him.But he was equally alive to the importance of national language and literature in bringing about an awakening and national integration among the masses.

Although he often quoted from the writings of Guru Gobind Singh, Swami Ram Tirath and Swami Vivekananda, Bhagat Singh was totally against using religion for political ends. He believed that the failure of earlier revolutionaries lay in their divided loyalty to their nation and their religion.An atheist as well as being a socialist, Bhagat Singh was also attracted to communist and anarchist causes.

He wrote a series of articles on anarchism, wanting to fight against mainstream misconceptions of the word in the Punjabi periodical Kirti  and explainrd his interest in anarchist ideology and express his concern over misunderstanding of the concept of anarchism among the public. Singh tried to eradicate the misconception among people about anarchism. He wrote, “The people are scared of the word anarchism. The word anarchism has been abused so much that even in India revolutionaries have been called anarchist to make them unpopular.” As anarchism means absence of ruler and abolition of state, not absence of order, Singh explained, “I think in India the idea of universal brotherhood, the Sanskrit sentence vasudhaiva kutumbakam etc., has the same meaning.” He wrote about the growth of anarchism,”the first man to explicitly propagate the theory of Anarchism was Proudhon and that is why he is called the founder of Anarchism. After him a Russian, Bakunin, worked hard to spread the doctrine. He was followed by Prince Kropotkin etc.”

Singh explained anarchism by writing :

The ultimate goal of Anarchism is complete independence, according to which no one will be obsessed with God or religion, nor will anybody be crazy for money or other worldly desires. There will be no chains on the body or control by the state. This means that they want to eliminate: the Church, God and Religion; the state; Private property.

In ‘To Young Political Workers,’ his last testament before his death, he called for a “socialist order” and a reconstruction of society on a “new, i.e, Marxist basis.” He considered the government “a weapon in the hand of the ruling class”, which is reflected in his belief that Gandhian philosophy only meant the “replacement of one set of exploiters for another.”

Bhagat Singh is often admired and celebrated for his dedication to the cause of liberation. However his socialist, communist and anarchist beliefs were suppressed by the successive governments in Independent India, who saw a revolutionary who had the potential to inspire, unite and motivate the growing population of a spectrum of activists all over India, in direct response to the fast-spreading divisiveness and intolerance in the country, often patronised by the groups and organizations professing a right-wing fascist ideology.

Writing the introduction to Bhagat Singh’s remarkable essay Why I am an Atheist in 1979,the late Bipan Chandra described the Marxist leaning of Bhagat Singh and his associates in the following way; “Bhagat Singh was not only one of India’s greatest freedom fighters and revolutionary socialists, but also one of its early Marxist thinkers and ideologues. Unfortunately, this last aspect is relatively unknown with the result that all sorts of reactionaries, obscurantists and communalists have been wrongly and dishonestly trying to utilise for their own politics and ideologies the name and fame of Bhagat Singh and his comrades such as Chandra Shekhar Azad.”

Bhagat Singh’s dreams of a new social order live on, not just in his writings, but also reflected in the hearts of every activist, protester, and dissenting citizen.The fight for freedom,revolution, Inquilab, may have changed in meaning, but it is far from over. Bhagat Singh remains  one of the most influential, revolutionary figures in the Indian history and continues to serve as a tremendous source of inspiration for every generation.

The inspiration that Bhagat Singh still ignites within the soul of Indians can be felt in the popularity of the films and theatrical adaptations on his life. Several films like “Shaheed” (1965) and “The Legend of Bhagat Singh” (2002) were made on the life of 23-year old revolutionary. Popular songs like the “Mohe rang de basanti chola” and “Sarfaroshiki Tamanna” associated with Bhagat Singh are still relevant in inspiring patriotic emotions in the Indians. Numerous books, articles and papers have been written about his life, ideologies and legacy. 

Today is marked as Bhagat Singh Jayanti and is celebrated all over India to remember his courageous sacrifice that ignited the spark of patriotism among countless people. To commemorate Shaheed Diwas, people observe a two-minute silence to remember these three freedom fighters and all the other martyrs who laid down their lives for the nation. revisit their work in art and history, from singing songs that defined their time, to reading the lessons passed down by Bhagat Singh in his essays  and diaries.

The President, the Vice-President, and the Prime Minister of India pay tribute to these great freedom fighters at their respective memorials in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on Martyrs’ Day on Thursday. Modi tweeted, "India will always remember the sacrifice of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. These are greats who made an unparalleled contribution to our freedom struggle."
There is also a tradition of organizing processions, marches and rallies on this day in various parts of the country and schools and colleges hold special programs to commemorate the occasion. The day is a reminder to the people of India about the value of freedom and the sacrifices made by the freedom fighters for the country..

“They may kill me, but they cannot kill my ideas. They can crush my body, but they will not be able to crush my spirit.”

 

"Revolution is an inalienable right of mankind. Freedom is an imperishable birthright of all. Labour is the real sustainer of society"

 

- Shaheed Bhagat Singh