The government's austerity measures are biting hard. Hard pressed families are feeling the squeeze. One in seven children go without a hot meal and the only growth is in foodbanks. With pay cuts and rising bills many are unable to make their money last a month, and in desperation are driven to take out pay day loans. We need an alternative to austerity and cuts. We need a programme of growth to help the economy. You can help send that message by joining us on 20th October
As Cameron smiles
and his party celebrates,
outside their is growing discontent
people busy making fires,
looking into the flames and dreaming
as their vision reveals its ugly truth,
a party of hollowness, waving empty smiles.
We weave branches, keep our spirits alive
increase the pressure, as our path is lit .
One nation of resiliant steel, carrying instruments
of change, shouting angry defiance,
striking matches as the falling leaves blow.
From North to South bonfires are being prepared
stubborn choruses fighting back,with thunder between our fingers,
most of us have nothing to lose, in these burning times,
a hungry vibration, believing in the prophecy of birds,
following the stream of longing and survival.
Already we are marching, you won't see us turning back
as they rob us blind, we turn their plans into disarray
as we cling on to faith, a stirring band of rebellion
no retreat for us into corners, we look for another way out,
singing our songs of bread and roses, and the dance of solidarity.
This is a feature length documentary that is part of a bigger whole. It features many of the foremost people, speaking out in favour of equality for Palestinians and recognition of Israel Apartheid.
Pat Onions has submitted an e-petion to the government website. Pat who is blind, is also a carer. .
There is now just less than month before this petition expires on 1st November, it has been signed by 50,000 but urgently needs to get another 50,000 by the end of the month - we have to keep pushing, this government needs to be told the depth of feeling in this country that is against their punitive policies. Every voice counts. If they still do not listen we must do everything that is available to keep up opposition to their deeply flawed, policies. Together we can win.
Pat's petition calls on Parliament to:
"Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families"
And after you have signed keep sharing the petition as wide and as far as possible, because we still have a long way to go.Up and down the country it is also noticed that the Work Capability Assessments are simply failing the most vulnerable sections of our community and that Atos the company undertaking these tests are simply not fit for purpose.
Hopefully the 100,000 target will be reached, and perhaps their will be some kind of debate in Parliament. If we get enough signatures at least we can shame them.
And when they carry on not listening, we carry on together too, in solidarity, resisting them every inch of the way. We will not be silenced.
I've written about Mr De Quincey before which you can find below at following link.
teifidancer: THOMAS DE QUINCEY and his phantasmagoric dreams.In 1807 he went to visit the lake District, where he became friends with the poet William Wordsworth. In 1809 he settled in Grasmere, at Dove House which had previously been Mr Wordsworth's home. He was to stay there for ten years. Thomas had long been an admirer of Williams work, and for a while their was a lot of mutual respect, becoming friends with Wordsworth's sister Dorothy and a number of his acquaintances who became known as the lake poets, including Coleridge and Robert Southey. However over the years there was to be a gradual falling out, over some real or imagined state. It has been mentioned that de Quincey thought that Wordsworth had been ungenerous towards him, though he had a tendency to think that, of a lot of people. De Quincey's head at the time had more than just a claustophobic edge to it , by this time he was using opium daily to relieve the products of social restraints that he felt, and was often to be found wandering in much a delirious state, delivering a number of public spats, that were to become the stuff of legend. Later he wrote this essay,in which he achieved some sort of public revenge by drawing this pen picture of his ex-friend on a Nature Ramble. It has more than a bite to it.
William Wordsworth
'Wordsworth was, upon the whole, not a well-made man. His legs were pointedly condemned by all the female connoisseurs in legs that ever I heard upon that topic; not that they were bad in any way which would force itself upon your notice - there was no absolute deformity about them; and undoubtedly they had been serviceable legs beyond the average standard of human requistion, for I calculate, upon good data, that with these identical legs Wordsworth must have traversed a distance of 175 to 180,000 English miles - a mode of exertion which to him, stood in the stead of wine, spirits, and all other stimulates whatsoever to the animal spiris; to which he has been indebted for a life of unclouded happiness, and we for much of what is most excellent in his writings. But, useful as they they have proved themselves, the Wordsworthian legs were certainly not ornamental, and it was really a pity, as I agreed with a lady in thinking, that he had not another pair for evening dress parties - when no boots lend their friendly aid to masque our imperfectations from the eyes of female rigorists - the elegantes formarum spectrices. A sculptor would certainly have dissaproved of their contour . . .
But the worst part of Wordsworth's person was the bust: there was a narrowness and a droop about the shoulders which became striking, and had an effect of meanness which brought into close juxtasposition with a figure of a most statuesque order. Once on a summer morning, waliking in the vale of Langdale with Wordsworth, his sister,and Mr J - a native Westmoreland clergyman, I remember that Miss Wordsworth was positively mortified the peculiar illustration which settled upon this defective conformation. Mr J -, a fine towering figure, six feet high, massy and columner in his proportions, happened to be walking, a little in advance, with Wordsworth and myself being in the rear; and from the nature of the conversation which then prevailed in our front rank, something or other about money, deviceses, buying and selling, we of the rear-guard thought it requisite to preserve this arrangement for a space of three miles or more; during which time, at intervals, MissW - ould exclaim, in a tone of vexation, 'Is it possible? can that be William? How mean he looks!'' and could not conceal a mortification that seemed really painful, until I, for my part, could not forbear laughing outright at the serious interest which she carried into this trifle. She was however, right as regarded the mere visual judgement.
Wordsworth's figure, with all its defects, was brought into powerful relief by one which had been cast in a more square and massy mould; and in such a case it impressed a spectator with a sense of absolute meaness, more especially when viewed from behind, and not counteracted by his counterance; and yet Wordsworth was of a good height, just five feet ten, and not a slender man; on the contrary, by the side of Southey his limbs looked thick, almost in a disproportionate degree.
But the total effect of Wordsworth's person was always the worst in a state of motion; for, according to the remark I have heard from country people, 'he walked like a cade' - a cade being some sort of insect which advances by an oblique motion ( 'a cade'was, in fact, the country word for a tottering, new-born lamb: perhaps slightly preferable from Wordswort's point of view to an ant). This was not always perceptible, and in part depended (I believe) upon the position of the arms; when either of these happened (as was very customary) to be inserted into the unbuttoned waistcoat, his walk had a wry or twisted appearance only - for I have known it, by slow degrees, gradually to edge off his companion from the middle of the side of the highroad.
From Recollections of the Lakes and the Lake Poets - Thomas de Quincey 1840.
'Some of the most obstinate criminals are punished by Suspension, but not by the Neck, as here in England, but by the Wrists. Thumb-rop'd together with String of Hay, and so fasten'd to a Peg; well! this is but the Beginning... the Sting will follow: The offending Taphy thus dangling in the Air, the Beadle approaches with a stick im'd with a feather at one End, and tickles his Testiclesp, these softer Titillation engender some vibrations of the Body, and nimble Friskings, which are shrewdly chasti'd by a Cat-of-nine-tails.
For several crimes they have various Punishments. That grand Enormity of Breaking-wind is chastised there as it is in England, that is, the Hand of Magistracy doth usually inflict a pretty lusty Cobbling, that is, for every Report of Loss of an Hair, though some that have been much addicted to the Infirmity, and therefore have been very guilty of a Stink, have endured the Cruelty of tormenting Fairies, that is, have been pinch'd into Manners, and a better Smell.
From A collection of Welsh Travels and Memoirs of Wales 1738
Ah, the whif of what passed as justice rattling down the years......
The Department for Communities and Local Government were yesterday given 28 days notice to vacate their central London premises and mounting criticism of their recent behaviour. Travellors, Gypsies, Roma and Supporters behind the move stated " persistant racially aggravated persecution... harrassment, alarm and distress amounting to anti-social behaviour and gross misconduct."
Rights groups say youths arrested by Israeli forces face prospect of beatings and rights violations.
Hundreds of Palestinian children are arrested by the Israeli military every tear for throwing stones at occupying forces.
They are tried in Israeli military courts and human rights organisations say the trial lacks due progress and are against international law.
When asked about the allegations, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the rights organisation that documented the abuses was "not a credible organisation", and said that no such evidence had been shared with the Israeli authorities.
Al Jazeera's Charles Stafford reports from Abu Dis, in the occupied West Bank.
They seem to have all the guns,
Most of the guns in Britain are
British/American government property
Police property
Or the property of gentry-gangsters
Who are British/American government property.
Nobody I love has a gun. Not in Britain.
The rich are rich because they fuck people about.
They call it the Quality of Leadership
And they have special school-machines producing
Leaders to fuck people about.
People with guns
Tend to fuck other people about.
The people they tend to fuck about
Are people who don't have guns.
None of my friends has a machine-gun ready,
Let alone a tank.
A few yards ahead of us, a row of truncheons.
Behind the truncheons, rifles,
Behind the rifles, grenades,
Behind the grenades, machine-guns,
Behind the machine-guns, tanks,
Behind the tanks, bombs,
And behind the bombs - the rich.
The rich are as stupid as guns,
They will be killed with their own guns.
In every capital
The fucked about of the world are taking arms.
The people of the world
We are going to take it.
Poet, editor and activist Manal Al Sheik, says it is now lethal for her to be a writer in her home town of Ninewh, Iraq. We follow her as she prepares a new poem for a public reading in Norwegian.
Every day, the season air humming, for some can be numbing, walking on the edge..... beyond the weight, voices talk, voices share, navigate between imperfect intervals and mornings rush..... towards a mutlitude of possibility. Shadows become a thousand words, and the roaring continues , the wind is never silent.
I like it when people say sorry, it can't be easy.But sometimes it just happens to come a little too bloody late. Is this for the country or is it for his party's conference this weekend. His original apology did not sound very heartfelt either, I prefer this version Not sure if it will change anybodies opinions about him though. Don't think he's goin to win any popularity contests any time soon, either. ****R
Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie declines to answer question from Channel 4 news reporter Alex Thomson on his record over the papers coverage of Hillsborough football tragedy. This video has now been watched on youtube over 64,000 times. Here's a response to it.
" Solidarity does not assume that our struggles are the same struggles, or that our pain is the same pain, or that our hope is for the same future. Solidarity involves committment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies we do live on common ground."
image, Tricia Porter, National Portrait Galllery 1975
Outsider
You are so civilised, so alert
In your tunnel, arching the drilled brain;
So desterous in control
Of the tricky signals, the obvious gain.
I am outside, a truant soul,
Deep in the Word, stung by the dirt
Of primal clues which you disdain.
I cannot be a comrade
To you who claim your victory
In affliction's craft and trade.
I am angry with your tunnel life,
For a free wind, out here, storms the base
Of resignation, topples the perch of suffering.
Slits like a knife
The bladdered boast, the wan, competent face;
And it seeks you also, but you hide from its sting.
I pioneer for you,
But the gulf is too wide
And you cannot see my clue.
I do not have to overcome,
I do not face the worst, I do not accept:
I just speed home
With no flakes of darkness admitted or defied.
Your skilled courage is not for me:
I have overstepped.
By God's grace, some mark or boundary
Where faith branches higher
And its vagabond thrills never cool.
I am wild with expectation, full of strange fire
That would scorch a mundane tool.
You miss that fire through your efficiency:
Your triumphs only prove
You are too sleek for miracle. It takes
An unkempt faith to make a mountain move:
Unsheltered savage trust, bare to the mud,
Till your ego's clay-seam quakes
And the kingdom seethes in your blood.
This fierce old pilgrim's way I have known,
But you despise it, so I sing alone.
Reprinted from Penguin Modern Poets 6 Jack Clemo, Edward Lucie-Smith, George MacBeth 1964
On a personal note I lost my faith many moons ago
but still believe in tomorrow, but hey that's another story.
Video including testimony of journalist covering the massacre
This week the world has remembered the victims of 9/11. But this weekend also marks the 30th anniversary of the massacre of Sabra and Shatila, so a moments silence please.
This massacre took place between 16 to 18 September 1982. It is now considered to be the bloodiest single atrocity committed against the Palestinian people in living history. Similar in magnitude to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US,which left close to 3000 innocent people dead according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, more than 2,750 Palestinian/Lebanese, men, women and children were massacred in the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut, by Christian Lebanese Phalangists while the city was occupied by the Israeli army .
Israel for a while denied it had conspired in the massacre, yet as a result of international condemnation it launched an inquiry in 1983, known as the Kahan Commission http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/kahan.htmlthis found that the Israeli military were completely aware of the massacre taking place, but had done nothing to stop it. The Commission subsequently regarded Israel of being part of the 'indirect responsibility' for the massacre. and Ariel Sharon, then Israel's highest military leader, later the country's Primeminister of bearing personal responsibility for the massacre because he did not prevent the Lebanese Phalangist militia from entering the camps.
One of the reasons why people still talk about Sabra & Shatila, is that no one has actually ever apologised for this crime against humanity, which this incident surely was. Also no one has ever stood trial or been held account fot this crime.
We should not forget any crime against humanity, either, all are of equal importance. It is unfortunately part of us all a history and legacy that is both shameful and bitter.
On all accounts this was not an isolated incident, and to this day Israels oppressive policies towards the Palestinians continue. We still see the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which has made the Gaza strip one of the biggest prisons in the world.
Every September since then hundreds of Palestinians and friends from around the world gather now in Shatila at the Martyr's Square to remember and mourn, and mark the events that had previously occurred.
Even contemplating this dark anniversary, I never give up feeling that their is still much hope in the future for the lot of the Palestinian and their ongoing plight is not simply forgotten.
Yesterday after 23 years the full scale of the establishments cover up over the 1989 Hillsborough disaster was revealed.Finally the truth seems to be coming out, as it always does. The Police, the Conservative Government of the time, the Stadium management and the press, all have colluded to keep us from what actually happened at the tragedy that was Hillsborough.
But, even yesterday our Prime minister, David Cameron claimed that there was ' no cover up at governmental level' but we have finally have now found out that Tory M.Ps helped the police cover things up becauset Margeret Thatcher was so concerned that her beloved loyal anti-miner police would be presented in a bad light. Well what Mr Cameron said, has proven to be a lie, the same regime today trying to soften up the damage implications to their friends.
The truth is , that the names of the dead at Hillsborough have been lied and slandered to, time and again.
Kevin McKenzie pictured above, sanctimonious git supremeo, sanctioned the making up of 'quotes' we all make mistakes, but most of us stand corrected, this individual has repeatedly repeated the same lies time and time and again, a pathetic , wretched individual who only seems to make half apologies in order to further his own self interests.The sun newspaper repeated the police's lies and attempted to blame the victims. Shame , shame, shame.......
Remember too, that 164 police officers lied, 14 of whom were awarded millions of pounds of compensation between them, the Hillsborough familres have not recieved a penny.Also since this terrible occasion some Police Officers have even been promoted to senior positions.
Pressure now is mounting for criminal charges to be brought against Police Officers involved in this sordid affair. The pessimist in me, fears that they will never hear the word guilty laid against them in this rotten land.
Thatcher's Conservative Government too created a culture of impunity, who needed a partisan police force, because they wanted to protect their own self interests, the people now demand justice.
This state of affairs only serves to highlight the complete disregard for the plight and disregard the system and it's friends has for the plight and dignity of working class people. Their has been no apology to this day by the police for their actions, compounding the suffering of the families involved.
The Police, the Sun Newspaper, Thatcher, McKenzie all equal of blame in the trauma and distress that has been caused to the victims and their familes. Time and time again, truth has been concealed. Their should be no let up now in the pursuit of justice.
Still, here.
different name than on facebook
still a faint echoe
in this spinning world.
Still feeling numb
still got my eye on a page or two
in the library
watching humanity fly.
Still got time
to wonder about
stuff and things
finding ways to connect and survive.
Still here in the wild sky
armourless among the branches
a fair weathered friend
still pointing the way towards another reality.
Still here, distant and far
revealing a message or two
still fizzing, smouldering
still have not found a way, to stop the clocks.
Still getting older, getting fatter
a desperate drum beat
wine stained, leaving a mark
still slightly dangerous, still under the cloudy sky.
Still believe it's possible for the world to change
still following loves order, still free enough to apportion blame
still looking for some change, still moving forwards
still waiting, still here tomorrow, hopefully!
Still safe here, beyond the rivulets where I have strayed
still groaning under the stars , still foaming at the mouth
still the music calls , and the echoe returns
still politicians stall, still deceit brings its tears.
Still the questions feed, looking for answers
still discovering ideas at the edge
still little by little, replacing old heirarchies
still got time to breathe, still the essence is what is imagined.
Still a flame , flickering in existence,
still considering, still following resistance,
still finding momentary vision
still have not surrendered, still running free.
Charles Bukowski reading his poem The Genius of the Crowd 1969 capitals Bukowski's
There Is Enough Treachery, Hatred Violence Absurdity In The Average
Human Being To Supply Any Given Army On Any Given Day
And The Best At Murder Are Those Who Preach Against It
And The Best At Hate Are Those Who Preach Love
And The Best At War Finally Are Those Who Preach Peace
Those Who Preach God, Need God
Those Who Preach Do Not Have Peace
Those Who Preach Peace Do Not Have Love
Beware The Preachers
Beware The Knowers
Beware Those Who Are Always Reading Books
Beware Those Who Either Detest Poverty
Or Are Proud Of It
Beware Those Quick To Praise
For They Need Praise In Return
Beware Those Who Are Quick To Censor
They Are Afraid Of What They Do Not Know
Beware Those Who Seek Constant Crowds For
They Are Nothing Alone
Beware The Average Man The Average Woman
Beware Their Love, Their Love Is Average
Seeks Average
But Their Is Genius In Their Hatred
Their Is Enough Genius In Their Hatred To Kill You
To Kill Anybody
Not Wanting Solitude
Not Understanding Solitude
They Will Attempt To Destroy Anything
That Differs
From Their Own
Not Being Able
To Create Art
They Will Not
Understand Art
They Will Consider Their Failure As Creators
Only As A Failure
Of The World
Not Being Able To Love Fully
They Will BELIEVE Your Love Incomplete
AND THEN THEY WILL HATE
YOU
And Their Hatred Will Be Perfect
Like A Shining Diamond
Like A Knife
Like A Mountain
LIKE A TIGER
LIKE Hemlock
Their Finest
ART
Castle Street in Cardiff was shut down for a short while a couple of days ago to allow for the concerned peaceful protestors to mark their commemoration to those who have died as a consequence of the lack of care and duty of the government appointed department ATOS that are a not-fit-for-purpose organisation who's motive is profit and not care.
Meanwhile today thousands demand RESPECT and Quality of life.
Disability rights campaigners have ended a week of protests outside the central London headquarters of ATOS . They have for some wierd reason been one of the main sponsors of the Paralympic Games.
It is ATOS's tests for people on disability allowance, that have led to peoples suicides, and is daily adding damage and distress to peoples lives.
Protestors gathered in London, and have been taking direct action against what is being called the Atos Games. Atos is benefitting from peoples misery, and are making a tidy profit too, people should be put first.
There contract is worth £110 million a year, but the appeals alone cost the taxpayer another £60 miilon. The impact of wrongly being declared fit to work can be enormous.
Increasingly people are realising that ATOS are not fit for purpose, but the government keeps giving them their backing.In the first 8 months of last year , 1,100 people have died of their illnesses soon after being found fit for work by ATOS. No regard for peoples feelings, but their that type of government.....complete heartless basrards actually.
People are refusing to be ghettoised and silenced, and are declaring enough is enough. If the Paralympics has managed people to see how this government is treating it's most vulnerable citizens, then that is a good thing.
I keep banging on about this issue, because it's an issue that is close to my heart. People matter, and untill ATOS are removed we will keep bannging and shouting. The fact that ATOS has been sponsoring the Paralympics is a sick joke gone to far.
In a globalised world, you might expect to see a rise in the number of cross border couples. But one person (backed by the Whole Government) stands to stop international love for many ordinary people.
Indeed Theresa May, the Home Secretary wants to make it harder for British citizens and those settling in the U.K to bring their spouses, civil partners and indeed other family members to the U.K. Join the campaign to stop a flagrant abuse of human rights http://www.jcwi.org.uk/
The death of pro-palestinian activist Rachel Corrie was a "regrettable accident" for which the state of Israel was not responsible, a judge has ruled, dismissing a civil lawsuit brought by the family.
According to Judge Oded Gershon of Haifa Court she had " put herself in a dangerous situation" whilst dressed in a bright orange jacket and acting as a human shield, when she was crushed under the weight of an Israeli miltary bulldozer while trying to obstruct the demolition of a Palestinian home in Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border.
Israel to all intents and pupose has declared itself not guilty of Rachel Corrie's murder. The world I think sees things differently.
The home Rachel Corrie died trying to protect was razed, along with hundreds of others. She was murdered whilst protesting against home demolitions and injustice in Gaza. This court has now given its stamp of approval to the flawed and illegal practices of the Israeli military. The verdict has failed to hold the Israeli military accountable for continuing violation of human rights. It is a shocking day for human rights, but a verdict that I am not too surprised about. Again and again Israel acts with impunity, carrying on regardless in an arrogant violent manner. There is no justice when their courts show such contempt, for justice's meaning,
there is no justice too, when the Gaza strip remains a sealed ghetto,there is no justice when countless Palestinian families are made homeless, there houses destroyed, where is the justice for them or their friends after the death of their loved ones.
By disregarding international law and granting Israeli war criminals impunity, the verdict exemplifies that Israel's legal system cannot be trusted to administer justice according to international standards.
The fight and struggle will continue, the end result being that we get truthful answers and yes JUSTICE...... the world will not stay silent, and I will remember Rachel Corrie , who courageously died whilst living her dreams, staying human, amd showing solidarity with her beloved friends, the Palestinians.
This will not be last time we hear her name. The memories of her death will not fade, nor that of the death of thousands of Palestinians. Israel have stated their objectives, they are participating in a war, and in there war, there is no such thing as civilians casualties. At least 6,444 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli occupation since 2000, so we carrying on fighting for their Justice too as well as Rachel's.
Rachel said 2 days before she was killed
"I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive. Its horrifying'.
This is still the situation today, despite the condemnations internationally, Israel believes it can get away with murder...... the world is watching and the world says no.
In this set of clips, Americans are shown how to spot Communists. For example . " If a person reads and advocates the views expressed in a Communist publication, he may be a Communist. If a person defends the activities of Communist nations while consistently attacking the domestic and foreign policies of the United States, she may be a Communist!!! The video also goes on to demonstrate the evils of Communists stealing one's daughters away to work on a collective farm.
Joking aside it was not just Communists the Americans were afraid of, they garnered a lot hatred for other things too. On this day in 1927, Ferdinando Sacco and Bartholomew Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants living in Boston, were executed after being framed in a robbery. The alleged robbery had taken place some time before in 1920, in Massachusetts, and their subseguent trial and execution was surrounded in conntrovery.Their real crime was that they were anarchists, involved with the vibrant anti-capitalist movement that was popular at the time. That too scared the shit out of the American establishment, voices that threaten their authority still do. So here's to Sacco and Vancetti's rebel spirit rattling through time. We never forget, never forgive. RIP comrades
" Oh martyr!
Dead, dead! You are dead
But your human tree and your human root
Are budding
Blooming
Growing!
Listen to the war cries of your living brothers!
This is the incense we are burning to you."
from Sacco Vancetti - H.T. Tsaing Daily Worker August 20, 1928
Sacco and Vancetti - Ben Sahn
Song about Sacco and Vancetti - David Roviks and Woody Guthrie
As Michelangelo, the great Italian composer,
once remarked: Artists have responsibilities.
Hearing music is like contracting a disease,
a beautiful infection. It brings closer
the point of no return. One must be strong.
There's no such creature as a harmless song.
Painting too, as the English artist Shakespeare
pointed out, can be debilitating
unless you aspire beyond paint to real things.
A painting freezes movement. The eye, like the ear,
is a channel of impotence. Mere airs and graces
often induce an unproductive stasis.
And as for words, I only need quote Mozart,
the Swiss poet: They're tainted by unreason.
Language is discourse, words slippery. To seize one
we must lay traps, as for mice. The throat's part
of the respiratory tract, and you may clip
a speech, like air, by tightening your grip.
Too many of you are wasting your time and ours
with gewhaws, bric-a-brac and frolicking.
It's time to give you all a rollicking.
We're not impressed, I fear, by your endeavours.
The role of the past is to prepare the future
and your task is to welcome it with Culture
Reprinted from Sing Freedom Faber and Faber in production with Amnesty International
Deprivation of Freedom of Expression - Paulo Zerbato
Stop the War's http://stopwar.org.uk John Rees interviewed on the BBC Jeremy Vine show on why he gives unequivocal support to Julan Assange in his fight against extadiction to Sweden and from their possibly to the United States.
Many of us can remember too, when The Conservative Party gave uneguivocal support to the fascist dictator General Pinochet when he came to stay in our country.
The differences perhaps is that one has exposed human rights abuses, whilst one perpetuated them.
As feared Pussy Riot have been found guilty, in what was not a fair trial but a political witchhunt. The draconian, reactionary beasts of authority have convicted them of 'hooliganism'. In my opinion the only thing that should have been found guilty was the Russian Court System. The 3 individuals from Pussy Riot could now face up to 7 years in prison, but they seem to be holding their heads up and showing no fear.
Protests will now continue as planned across the world. Already a couple of thousand were outside the Moscow Courthouse chanting ' Freedom to Political Prisoners '. The sentence will be handed down later today, the real verdict being, is that it exposes how sick Putins regime is.pussy riots only real crime was one of thinking for themselves, and not bowing down to the slavery of patriarchy and conformity.
The message below is one I endorse, because Putin is so arrogant, he refuses to listen, to the millions across the world who share the same sentiment, that is his folly, he will be now remembered as a man, that cannot take a joke, and will be forever mocked ' Sweet Vladimir Putin is afraid of girls dancing in a church.' 'Virgin Mary , Mother of God, Put Putin away. Put Putin away. Put Putin away.
Postscript
15.27
have just found out they have all been individually sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.
The Pussy Riot has only just begun. Fuck you Putin.
Following Tuesdays post, and on the day that members of Pussy Riot await theiir fate, when at 3 0'clock this afternoon, they will finally get their verdict and sentence, thought I'd qickly post this. Their is all probability that they will not recieve a not-guilty verdict, so the eyes of the world will be on how long the jail sentences will be. The expectations are that they will get between one and three years.
They have been fortunate I guess because they have managed to garner much sympathetic international media attention, unlike many other prisoners of conscious across the globe. They have also attracted the support of many celebrities and international organisations like amnesty, and many groups and individuals across the world, for a little noticed You Tube video of a political prank back in February, and have certainly succeeded in capturing our hearts and imagination too.
Pussy Riot video of performance, that has garnished so much attention
The eyes of the world will now be watching what happens, does Putin and his allies want to be seen as confirming themselves as draconian reactionaries. Personally I hope not, and that they will not be treated to harshly and that they will soon be free.
In an act of solidarity I am reprinting Yekaterina Samutsevich, one of the defendents closing statement at the Pussy Riot Trial.
Yekaterina Samutsevich's closing statement in the criminal case against the feminist punk group Pussy Riot.
During the closing statement, the defendant is expected tp repent or express regret for her deeds, or to enumerate attenuating circumstances. In my case, as is the case of my colleagues in the group, this is completely unnecessary. Instead, I want to express my views about the causes of what happened with us.
The factthat Christ the Savir Cathedral had become a significant symbol in the political strategy of our powers that be was already clear to many thinking people when Vladimir Putin's former (KGB) colleague Kirill Gunyaev took over as head of the Russian Orthodox Chrch. After this happened, Christ the SaviourCathedral began to be used as a flashy setting for the politics of the security services, which are the main source of power (in Russia).
Why did Putin feel the need to explain the Orthodox religion and its aesthetics? After all, he could have emplyed his own, far more secular tools of power - for example, national corporations, or his menacing police system, or his own obedient judiciary system. It may be that the tough, failed policies of Putin's government, the incident with the submarine Kursk, the bombings of civilians in broad daylight, and other unpleasant moments in his political career forced fim to ponder the fact that it was high time to resign, otherwise the citizens of Russia would help him do this. Apparently, it was then that he felt the need for more convincing, transcendenal guarantees of his long tenure at the helm. It was here that the need arose to make use of the aesthetics of the Orthodox religion, historically associated with the heyday of Imperial Russia, where power came not from earthly manifestations such as democratic elections and civil society, but from God himself.
How did he succeed in doing this? After all, we still have a secular state, and shouldn't any intersection of the religious and political spheres be dealt with severely by our vigilant and critically minded society? Here, apparently, tha authorities took advantage of a certain deficit of Orthodox aesthetics in Soviet times, when the Orthodox religion had the aura of a lost history, of something crushed and damaged by the Soviet totalitarian regime, and was thus an opposition culture. The authorities decided to appropriate this historical effect of loss and present ther new political project to restoore Russia's lost spiritual valus, a project which has little to do with a genuine concern for the preservation of Russian Orthodoxy's history and culture.
It was also fairly logical that the Russian Orthodox Church, which has long had a mystical connection with power, emerged as this project's principal executor in the media. Moreover it was also agreed that the Russian Orthodox Church, unlike the Soviet era, when the church opposed, above all, the crudeness of the authorities towards history itself, should also confront all baleful manifestations of contemporary mass culture, with its concept of diversity and tolerance.
Implementing this thourougly interesting political project has required considerable quantities of professional lighting and video wquipment, air time on national TV channels for hours-long live broadcasts, and numerous background shoots for morally and ethically edifying news stories, where in fact the Patriarch's well constructed speeches would be pronounced, helping the faithful make the right political choice during the election campaign, a difficult time for Putin. Moreover, all shooting has to take place continuously; the necessary images must sink into the memory and be constantly updated, to create the impression of something natural, constant and compulsary.
Our suddem musical appearance in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior with the song "other of God, Drive Putin Out" violated the integrity of this media image, generated and maintained by the authorities for so long, and revealed its falsity. In our performance we dared, without the Patriarch's blessing, to combine the visual image of Orthodox culture and protest culture, suggesting to smart people that Orthodox culture belongs only to the Russian Orthodox church, the Patriarch and Putin, that it might also take the side of civic rebellion and protest in Russia.
Perhaps such an unpleasant large-scale effect from our media intrusion into the cathedral was a surprise to the authorities themselves. First they tried to present our performance as the prank of heartless militant aethiests. But they made the blunder, since by this time we were already known as an ant-Putin feminist punk band that carried out their media raids on the country's major political symbols.
In the end, considering all the irreversible political and symbolic losses caused by our innocent creativity, the authoritis decided to protect the public from us and our nonconformist thinking. Thus ended our complicated punk adventure in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
I now have mixed feelings about this trial. On the one hand, we now expect a guilty verdict. Compared to the judicial machine, we are nobodies, and we have lost. On the other hand, we have won. Now the whole world sees the criminal case against us has been fabricated. The system cannot conceal the repressive nature of this trial. Once again, Russia looks different in the eyes of the world from the way Purin tries to present it at daily international meetings. All the steps toward a state governed by the rule of law that he promised have obviously not been made. And his statement that the court in our case will be objective and make a fair decision is another deception of the entire country and the international community. That is all, Thank you.
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