Sunday 26 October 2014
October 30th UK.Drugs debate..
On October 30th, 2014 the UK Parliament will host a debate on the country's drug policy. To ensure your MP represents you at the debate and works to support evidence-based drug laws in the country. visit here:-
http://www.talingdrugs.org/parliamentary-drugs-debate
Friday 24 October 2014
Blog Stuck in rut
Blog unable to upload photos or videos at moment in time, I hope it's temporary, any suggestions please?Also missing a dear friend, but that's another story. Meanwhile between 13 and 26th October a joint police Operation called 'mos maiorum' takes place in nearly all European countries to identify, imprison and finally deport illegallised migrants. Thousands of people will be subject to so called ' racial profiles ' and will be harassed and criminalised upon those criteria.
The following site tries to document the actions that are part of 'mos maiorum' and to make these effects visible to everyone.
Please contribute to document public police checkpoints or identify checks throughout the European union.
http://map.nadir.org/ushahidi
Monday 20 October 2014
The Battle of the Tarpaulin - Police Brutality
Hundreds of police officers attack Occupy Democracy participants because they don't want them to sit on tarpaulins. This was after Occupy Democracy broke away from the TUC march on Saturday and headed to Parliament Square for an open Assembly, wardens had asked protestors to leave under an old by law, then sent the police in, and then their was a total overreaction, on behalf of the police and a standoff lasted till yesterday. What was witnessed was a scene that had reminiscences of Hong Kong, less freedom seen in Parliament Square. The protestors sound system was confiscated and tents and sleeping bags were not allowed into the camp. The massive overpolicing and attempshut down this democratic forum is truly shocking and outrageous. The protestors plan to occupy the square for the next week. Viva freedom.
George Orwell on the police ;-
" I have no love for the idealized 'worker' as he appears in the bourgeois mind, but when I see an actual flesh and blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ak myself which side I'm on."
Wednesday 15 October 2014
Freudian Slip
Freudian slip:-
Tory welfare minister Lord Freud apparently thinks disabled people should be paid less than the minimum wage. And where is the opposition to these remarks, Millibland just keeps on shuffling and smiling, he needs to wake up... did he read any of his dads books for gods' sake... somewhere he must have some guts.
Lord Freud the same heartless individual who said ' The poor should take more risks as they have the least to lose.' Lord Fraud every time he opens his gob, a shallowness emerges that says much about his character and very much about the nasty party that he represents. People holding these views should not be in government, they are reckless and damaging, but their they are pontificating about realities that they know nothing about. He has no previous experience of the welfare system Baron Fraud, but who asked him first to provide a review of these services, Mr Tony Bliar under New Labour. You couldn't make these things up. My mind boggles. Oh blundering Mr Fraud has since apologised, but he's done that before as well, over previous gaffes of his own making, time he got another job, same applies to the rest of his cohorts in government who are equally complicit in their appalling attitudes to the poor and disabled.
The truth of Charlie Chaplin's 1940's anti war message for all humanity rings down the ages.
Charlie Chaplin's inspirational final speech in "The Great Dictator "
Here is the full transcript.
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible- jewish, Gentile, black men, white…
We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others’ happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls; has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery ,we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all.
Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me, I say “Do not despair.”
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder!
Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men—machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have a love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate!
Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural.
Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it’s written “the kingdom of God is within man”, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power.
Let us all unite.
Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill their promise. They never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people!
Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance!
Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
Tuesday 14 October 2014
Wonderful news: British MP's vote to recognise Palestine as a state.
Ok I would be the first to admit that I don't always like what emerges out of the house of commons, but as a result of tireless campaigning, yesterday finally resulted in the historic occasion which resulted in the UK Parliament voting to recognise the state of Palestine. This follows the Swedish Parliaments decision to do the same. Wonderful news. It saw as many as 274 voting for the motion to 12 against in a momentous event that gave me much joy, when usually the only thing that emerges from these dusty corners are dark shadows.
Surely it is a big thanks to all who for years have marched, demonstrated for the rights of the Palestinian people and is also a sign of times in the fact that British Parliament seems to have noticed and reflected what it's people really feel in the wake of Israels recent onlslaught in Gaza, that left over 2,000 Palestinians dead, and that people are now wide awake to its continuing illegal military occupation and recognise that Israel is losing the battle for public opinion and is part of a growing international trend that demands justice for the Palestinians. The time is now right for the Palestinians to have the state that it deserves.
This symbolic vote will mean absolutely nothing if further action is not taken, to bring the Palestinians dream of statehood into reality. International pressure must continue to be mounted until oppression is ended and the maxim from the 'rivers to the sea' is finally achieved.
Monday 13 October 2014
Steal this poem - Claire Faucet
This poem is copyleft.
You're free to distribute it and diffuse it,
re-write it and abuse it,
and use it.
For your own ends,
and with your own ending.
This is an open source poem
entering the public domain.
Here's the source code,
add a little salt and pepper if you like,
share it out amongst your friends.
Because I didn't write this poem
I moulded it,
picked the lines out of a skip as I was walking on over here
took used up fragments of leftover ideas,
and put them to use.
Think about it -
I can't tell you anything new.
In all these millennia of human existence
there certainly can only be a few ideas to be thought through.
So we treat them like rare commodities?
Plunder artistic reserves for new ideas buried deep beneath the permafrost,
suffocate them with patent protection
and junk the rest?
Or do we re-use them and recycle them?
Pile our public spaces high with shared ideas beyond anyone's imagining.
So I steal a verse here and a line there
a riff there and a rhyme there
pass it on around the circle,
roll it up
add a joke
here have a toke
does it get you high?
This poem is indebted to Gil Scott Heron. Abbie Hoffman, Jim Thomas
and Sarah Jones
This poem is indebted to all the words I've read and the voices I've known
This poem is a community of intellect, your and mine
This poem is ripped off line after line after line
Because intellectual property is theft
and piracy is our only defence against the thought police.
The revolution
will be plagiarised!
The revolution will not happen if ideas are corporatised
So steal this poem
and use it
For your own ends
and with your own ending.
This poem is copyleft
all rights are reserved
Claire Faucet is a performance poet, activist and researcher for Corporate Watch.
Her poetry can be found online at http://www.re-clairethestreets.blogspot.com
and her political writing at http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk
The above poem reprinted from:-
This poem is sponsored by : Poems in the face of corporate power
2007
Friday 10 October 2014
Apple : Irony alert
Apple one of the the major success stories of the dot-com era is often accused of treating its own workers poorly and is no stranger to controvery.
According to recent Pocket Gamer report Apple has pulled 'Sweatshop' a satirical game designed to raise awareness about the inequities of forced labour, from its APP store, because it was 'uncomfortable selling a game based around the running of a sweatshop. Though it apparently has no such qualms about selling a sweat shop produced phone. The technology giant whose own Foxconn facility is routinely plaqued by suicides, riots and human rights allegations, has cited clothing factory managers as routinely 'blocking fire escapes,' 'employing child labour' as reasons why the game was unsuitable for sale, according to Simon Parkin, head of games at liitlecloud, which created the game to highlight the human cost of fashion.
There is nothing ethical about apple, remember that they pay contract workers so little in China that they have been committing suicide, while their founder Jeff Bezos sits on a personal fortune of 427 billion, and Apple itself recently announced a $13.5 billion profit for the first quarter of 2014, while its warehouse workers suffer low pay and unfair working conditions, combined with a long term practice of using underpaid student labour and underpaying its own share of British corporate tax. Long too, has it had a history of allegations concerning human rights and labour rights abuses and lets not forget . Where things have improved recently for Apple is within its public relations department, but scratch under the surface it is still very sensitive to any outside criticism. Apple's reputation still not squeaky clean, their thirst for maximum profit still seems to be their major concern and is still in many peoples eyes a less than honest company. Apple also happens to be one of the most aggressive patent lawsuit filers in the world, that agressively pursues litigation and excessive claims against its competitors. In effect a bully.Apples' dismal record on human rights has long been questioned and is probably worse than we know about such is this companies insistence on secrecy, besides treating humanity with disrespect, Apple documents show that suppliers to the company also disrespect the environment, their suppliers routinely discharging toxic waste into our communities, without regard to the effect the waste has on residents, wildlife or the planet, its commitment to ethical values continues to be very dubious. Scratch under the surface, Apple not as nice and shiny as they try to make out.
Thursday 9 October 2014
R.I.P 'Louakanikos' The Greek Riot Dog
'Loukanikos' a ginger mongrel internationally known as the 'Riot Dog' has sadly passed away at the age of 10, His name translates into English as 'sausage'. This valiant much loved stray dogs health was adversely affected by police asphyxiating gas and from being kicked on numerous occasions by the police. Forcing him to retire from active protest 2 years ago. More than just a dog, he was a protector and a beloved comrade facing down riot Police daily as demonstrators took to the streets of Greece against the police murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15 year old Greek student who was gunned down in cold blood in the center of Athens, and later against austerity measures, he was usually to be found at the thick of all the action in front of the crowds, charging and yelping alongside protestors when they confronted police on the streets of Athens.So legendary was this noble creature that he had a bar named after him in Madrid, and. In 2011 Time magazine listed Loukanikos as one of its personalities of the year.
He was on the couch sleeping when suddenly his heart stopped. A leftist newspaper Avgi, says the dog has been buried in the shade of a tree in the city centre. This courageous four legged revolutionary who led many a fight for justice will bark no more.
Rest in Power.
Louakinikos in action
David Rovics - Riot Dog
Wednesday 8 October 2014
7 facts about Workfare.
" There is little evidence that workfare increases the likelihood of finding work.... workfare is least effective in getting people into jobs in weak labour markets where unemployment is high." This week their is a week of action against it, workfare profits the rich by providing free labour, whilst hurting the poor by taking away welfare rights if people refuse to work. The government is misleadingly calling it now 'Help to work' but it is business as usual, it is draconian, exploitative, unjust and wrong, many charities are now refusing to have anything to do with it because :-.
1. There is no evidence that workfare schemes lead to employment.
2. You're five times more likely to be sanctioned than get a job on a government work programme.
3. Workfare is undermining voluntary and charitable values.
4.Forced Labour is illegal.
5. Workfare is not just for the long-term unemployed.
6.Courts have repeatedly ruled against workfare schemes.
7. Workfare is heading for collapse but we need to push for it.
Facts reblogged from here, where you will find more information.:-
http://realfare.wordpress.com/2014/10/07/7-facts-you-need-to-know-about-workfare/
Tuesday 7 October 2014
Empty promises and broken 'pledges' lead folk to one conclusion:-
and its too late for Cable and Clegg to start sounding off now, they have backed the Tories throughout, we all know now what their party stands for, everything the Tories have done has been done with liberal democrat support. Milliband as for him apparently shifting his party to the left, come on, same as Blair,who created a version of the social democrats mark 2, under the guise of New Labour, where is their pulse, where is their opposition, their anger, their fiery direction.As for the Tories, unreformed unapologetic Thatcherites and UKIP more of the same. I feel political scepticism is more than justified, most people I encounter feel alienated from the lot of them, and do not understand the need to rush out to vote for them. Its not that people are disengaged with politics as a whole, I think people just feel let down by the so called democratic systems and norms that does nothing for them in return.Regarding most careesrist politicians as fraudsters and liars, a self serving elite, who carry on wining and dining, fostering division, with empty gestures, carving and making scapegoats out of sections of the community, as austerity grippens, is it any wonder that people increasingly feel abandoned, and left with not much hope, pessimistic and more than a little dissillusioned. Many people feel nauseated with the lot of them and simply cannot be bothereed with their message.
To change this country for the better, me thinks, the only hope for us, is to start thinking outside of the box, but people are still demonstrating, occupying, resisting with direct action, it is not a question of people simply apathetic, people are wide awake, change is happening NOW. Anger,does not reflect disengagement, and as we see, people are able to express their political dissatisfactions in so many different ways in our modern world. But the status quo carries on regardless, carries on not listening, as no confidence in their empty hollow words continues to grow.
But out of their fading embers, hopefully a fairer, system can be built, personally for me one that proactively is used to combat oppression, exploitation and repression, surely another world is not impossible.
Monday 6 October 2014
How the ISIS theatre of murder was born - Heathcote Williams
David Cameron says he is 'standing firm and will not be cowed" by ISIS brutality. Poet Heathcotte Williams responds.
Montage and narration by Alex Cox.
Sunday 5 October 2014
Overgrow the system... Give thanks to the Mother
Tuira Kayapo is an indigeneous Elder Mama warrior who showed the world what happens when Women take charge of their power. She walked into the 1989 Altamira Gathering in Brazil against the destruction of Dams in the Zingu, in her war paint, naked and carrying a large machete. She then walked up to the President of Brazil's Light holding Company Petrobras and running the blade of her machette three times over his cheeks, proclaimed his act on her people and on the entire Amazon as an act of war. She then stated in Kayopa :-
" You are a liar - We do not need electricity. Electricity is not going to give us our food. We need our rivers to flow freely, our future depends on it. We need our jungles for hunting and gathering. We do not need your dam."
Everyone stood in absolute awe at her audacity, especially the President of Petrobras who looked quite afraid .. yet what I see in her is a true example of WHAT Mamas are capable of in their full Power...
We have ALL become tired of this mess the world is in... It is time to reclaim our truth. Don't play with our good hearts and intentions. I am grateful for women like Chief Kayapo, who was bold enough to say no to colonialist exploitation. Bravely demanding respect, to allow her and her people to live as they want and choose, expressing the feelings of her entire nation.
Friday 3 October 2014
Fly Kites not Drones : Poppit Sands, nr St Dogmaels, Cardigan, West Wales.
lethal forces rather than look for diplomatic or political situations.
Join me tomorrow, kites not drones at Poppit Sands near St Dogmaels, Cardigan, West Wales, in a symbolic, 'Stop the drones' demonstration supported by Drone Network Cymru/Wales and CND Cymru/Wales. We need to build a world where children can play and fly their kites safely, instead of spending their lives in fear.
Please take a look at the following link:-
Child victims of drone warfare.
-http://childvictimsofwar.org.uk/get-informed/drone-warfare/
Thursday 2 October 2014
Moazzam Begg - Wronged Man is free again
Moazzam Begg a native born British citizen, family man of Pakistani descent, spent three years incarcenated in the most notorious detention centre created, Guantanamo Bay without being charged with any crime.
Arrested in Pakistan in 2002 he was transferred to Bangram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, where he suffered torture and witnessed U.S interrogators beat an innocents taxi driver to death, he would spend the next three years in very tortuous uncomfortable conditions.
Throughout this time, Begg , now 45 was repeatedly, deprived of legal rights, but after public outcry was returned to Britain in 2005. Despite the indignation and suffering he encountered, he did not lose his humility or dignity.
He went on to become a prominent human rights activist, writing books, advocating on behalf of other prisoners of conscience, whilst campaigning against the so called war on terror, and working with survivors of abuse and mistreatment across the globe.
But constantly he was harassed and intimidated, marked out because he was probably seen as one of Britains most prominent muslims. Well known to muslims and non-muslims alike as a representative of justice, truth and human rights in the face of oppression , and injustice.
Last December at Heathrow his passport was confiscated, and told it was not in the public interest to retain it, then later he was arrested for having allegedly travelled to Syria to assist Syrian rebels in terrorist activities, but had not visited this land since December 2012 and this was to assist in humanitarian relief and support.It seems that he may have become a victim of the government again, because of his continuing outspoken criticism of the British governments conduct during the War on terror. The arrest of one of the Wests most prominent Muslim critics certainly raised alarms with many. Using dubious charges against dissidents has been a hallmark post 9/11. Though these tactics are routinely condemned, they still continue to be implemented, showing us the crude corrosive measures our governments use, which ultimately undermine the foundations of western freedoms.
After 4 months in Belmarsh, Londons Central Criminal Court acquitted him yesterday of all charges, prosecutors saying " there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction in this case.'"
"The more this continues, the more it's going to alienate people." Begg said about his case. Campaigners are now concerned that the governments new hardened line as spelled out at their recent party conference will result in greater harassment and victimisation.
So it comes that an innocent man, has been freed for the second time in his life. Lets hope his voice can now be used again to speak out against injustice and to contribute to our understanding of each other , and that the world knows now what was always crystal clear -that this is an innocent man.
I am overjoyed by his release but outraged by the imprisonment itself.
Gareth Peirce Beggs solicitor said : "Moazzam Begg is a good and brave man. He is a rare individual who will talk to everyone and listen to everyone, even to those he profoundly disagrees. He has spent the near decade since he was released from the the torture of Bagram and Guantanamo in attempting to wake the world up to injustice and to comprhehend its causes and effects. His intelligent voice of reason and intelligence is desperately needed now. We are relieved he is free again."
Long may it be so.
Here is a link to CagePrisoners the human rights group founded by Moazzam Begg
http://www.cageuk.org/
Wednesday 1 October 2014
Cassetteboy - Cameron's Conference Rap
Applause please for Cassette Boy , with another fantastic satirical mashup.
Cassette Boy has made him speak the truth for once. Seriously though Dave thanks for legalising parody videos.
Tuesday 30 September 2014
poets for change - Cellar bards - watch out theirs a teifidancer about
Here's the cellar bards and friends reading out their poems on the theme of change in Cardigan West Wales UK at 4pm Saturday September 27th 2014 on the Quay on the banks of the Teifi. Oh and a rare look at teifidancer out in the wild.
Monday 29 September 2014
Dannie Abse - Poet Doctor R.I.P (22/9/23 - 28/9/14)
' The human race is the only one that knows it must die and it knows this only through its experience. A child bought up alone and transported to a desert island would have no more idea of death than a cat or a plant .' - Voltaire
It is with sadness that I have heard of the passing of poet, playwright, doctor and novelist Dannie Abse at the age of 91.
Born and bought up in Cardiff, he drew on his career as a doctor, his Welsh roots and his proud jewish inheritance to establish himself as one of Britains most popular poets. Many of his themes were international in outlook, combining elements of loss, love, the passing of time, his rich medical understanding and its moral implications. This gave him a compassion for the suffering of the world. His awareness and humanity gave him a conscious awareness.
The brother of Labour M.P Leo Abse, much of his life was spent in loving devotion with his wife, Joan who tragically died in a car accident in 2005, and like many of us he struggled to deal with his grief, but managed to write elonquently a lovely collection called the 'the Presence' which won the Welsh book of the year award in 2008.
His two autobiographies 'Ash on a Young Man's sleeve' and 'Poet in the Family' are now rightly considered to be classics. I recognised his account of his medical training through my own fathers who was to become a G.P. Alongside a deep understanding of the world, ran an overwhelming sense of humour, awash with an experience of thought.. Like Dannie Abse I also undersood some of his themes of exile, he moving from Cardiff to London and personally me having at a very young age moved from Cardiff to here in West Wales.
There is a richness at the heart of his work that I will forever cherish, which I also know will continue to endure.I have been fortunate to hear him read on a few memorable occassions.
He died surrounded by his family after a short illness. The Welsh nation and the world has lost a truly great poet of real conviction.
Dannie Abse R.I.P
from Anniversary
' What happens to a flame blown out?
What persists? Only the view,
never my my magified hand in yours.'
Dannie Abse - A Simple tribute
Dannie Abse reading poems for Oxfam
Sunday 28 September 2014
Specks of hope
Yesterday I was one of thousands of poets around the world who participated in 100-Thousands Poets for Change day. I took part in a reading organised by my local live literature group, the cellar bards, in conjunction with our local community bookshop, Leafed Through in an event that took place between 4 pm and 5pm, at Prince Charles Quay here in Cardigan, West Wales.In an inspiring event we gathered to celebrate and promote peace and sustainability and call for much needed serious social environmental and political change with poems written on postcards. It was good to be involved in something so positive, with hundreds of cities representing and over 100 countries signed up to the 100 TPC global initiative.More details here :- http://100TPC.org
The poem I read is included below.
Specks of hope
With this pen
no walls are drawn,
unity's breath spins
cancels out division,
solidarity's comfort lifts
and a strong flame burns,
showering the earth with reason
releasing leaves of hope,
gently painting the sky
in rivers of language,
opposing injustice
in whirling devotion,
planting smiles on an ugly world
spreading seeds of peace.
Friday 26 September 2014
Why the UK parliament should say no to bombing Iraq
David Cameron will ask MPs in the UK parliament to vote to join the US bombing campaign against Iraq, Chris Nineham from Stop the War coalition, interviewed by the BBC on 24 September 2014, asks, has nothing been learnt from the disasters of wetern inttervention in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. He urges MPs to vote no, like they did last year, when Cameron wanted a bombing campaign against Syria. To save lives and protect human rights the genocidal fundamentalists of Isis must be stopped, whose barbarity shows no limits but surely there are other ways. Do we repeat past mistakes, do we all become complicit in the end. Ultimately war is not civilised, war is failure.
There are no easy answers. But there is this certainty, killing people rarely kills peoples ideas.
Tuesday 23 September 2014
The illusion of choice
I am sharing it because I believe it is important for you to be aware of who is supplying the different brands and goods served on your dinner table.
Click to enlarge it shows that most products we buy are controlled by just a few companies. Despite a wide array of brands to choose from, it all comes back to the big guys.Ten mega corporations control the output of almost everything you buy; from household products to pet food to jeans. These corporations create an illusion of choice, a chain that begins at one of 10 super companies. Lets not forget that 90% of the media is now controlled by just six companies, down from 50 in 1983. Yes it is indeed a funny old world. Daily now I continue to consume and use social media platforms run by globalists like Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc but be switching off in bit and heading back to the garden, But Globalisation is just another word for monopolisation. Do we actually have a choice in choosing , or is it just the case of free market capitalism destroying any real sense of freedom?
Monday 22 September 2014
Stand up for the Earth - Gary Snyder( b 8/5/30) on Ecology and Poetry Parts 1-4
Part 2
Because of this I feel, we cannot fail to ignore the urgent issues that Mr Snyder brings up. We must keep working together to put an end to the destruction of the Earth by forces of human greed and ignorance, and remember too the devastating effects of capitalism upon nature.
Sunday 21 September 2014
Threads
Standing together
threads unwrapped,
impenetratable, not complicit
we remember innocents lost
to remote controlled killing machines,
from within sources of passion woven
richness of colour, keep us dreaming
stitches of time, spinning,
searching clearly for waves of hope.
As winter grows near
something already is being changed,
tomorrow will be time, for light to shine
together tracing unity's breath,
touching horizons. North, South, East and West
from this place, like singing birds
faith is restored, love rekindled,
as voices float freely through the sky,
we continue following paths of heddwch, peace.
Saturday 20 September 2014
Sad... no not really
Well I have not slept for a couple of days, better then, than the other week, in South Wales when I only managed in a week to get about an hour a day shut eye. And oh that reminds me, the last time I put on the television left me feeling a tad miserable. Yet despite this, and what they are saying, there has been a huge vote for independence, despite media manipulation a large percentance of the population of Scotland rejected the corrupt undemocratic Westminster system in an unprecedented number.
So though very tired, had a sublime night of dub music by the magical Maya Mitten down in my local, the cellar bar, I remain faithfully optimistic for the future. I think that with creativity and diversity we can create a brighter future, beyond the neoliberal consensus and bullshit, that says no to cuts and austerity, to nuclear missiles, yes to the N.H.S, together we reject political parties that offer us no choice, so wee keep on fighting for some real change, and will not rest until, the day comes, that we will win.
Thursday 18 September 2014
Give the Tories a benefit cut they will never forget.
Some final thoughts. The establishment is running scared, the government, big business and the banks have bought out their big guns to try to scare the Scottish people, but its inhabitants seem to be wide awake, despite the propaganda being spewed against them, they have been taking to the streets, organising, winning hearts and minds. I really hope they have not left it too late, and that they are brave enough to kick Westminster in the guts and win their freedom, and that they remind the rest of us , that it is ok not to be complacent.
We need to remember that the Tory government has no mandate, was not voted in, least of all the Lib Dems, who are have been propping them up, a government still fixed on austerity whilst lining their own pockets and that of their friends. So I really hope David Cameron gets a big message - Fuck off now. I really hope these seeds of discontentment grow and the hope for a fairer more caring and prosperous society spreads like a virus, reflecting a growing disillusionment with Westminster led policies, a river of change that leaves the status quo shaking in its boots. A yes vote on Scottish independence would plunge Cameron into a leadership crisis that could force him to quit. It's up to the rest of us to finish the job.
Wednesday 17 September 2014
Yes/Meh ( some thoughts on the Scottish referendum)
David Cameron thought he was being clever when he forced Scotland to take a straight yes or no vote in laving the union. But smugness is his middle name and this could be the most political gamble of his whole tawdry career..
With a day to go, he seems to be panicking as the vote looks as if it could go either way. Lets remember this vote is not about nationalism, it is about redressing some balance. It is about a nation that has been violently supressed, a working class that has been binded in chains, that has been ripe in exploitation and oppression. This for many is now being seen as a vote against the Conservatives and their friends who have for years mismanaged Scotland's economy. The same Conservatives who in Scotland are more reviled than since the days of Thatcher, who many blame for the poverty that wreaks daily misery on peoples lives.
It would not be heartbreaking if the people of Scotland chose a new beginning, it would just be part of a journey of recovery that often people need to take. If not taken now it could be centuries before the opportunity arose again. It is interesting how his so called opposition both the Labour Party and Liberal democrats leaders joining Cameron in calling for a no vote, see how much these abusers of power have so much in common.
Whatever the outcome Salmod as leader of the SNP finds himself in a win win position, even if he loses his vote Scotland could be granted new powers, but a no vote would leave Scotlands hands tied, when like all small nations what is needed is their absolute freedom. I personally as a Welshman have never seen myself as being part of the UK, I also reject the class system that this institution is based on, believe no borders are actually necessary that power needs to be given back to the people, we need to say no to sham democracy, yes to more equality, more autonomy.
I like the fact that the yes vote has garnered new strengths of feeling, a kind of anti-capitalist rhetoric, bravely dancing towards a future, not dancing to the intruments of division that has kept many people downtrodden in yesterdays memories. A fight for a different society, a fight for fairness and social justice, a struggle that could in the end inspire us all. A new future that sets a template about how our different wealth is shared.
New hopes where imagination is recaptured, dreams are nurtured, a different form of society is experimented with, for the good of all. Sadly the fact remains that like all governments, a future independent Scotland will nor be able to maintain the promises that is is making, it might be unable to share its wealth, protect the NHS, like other governments, will seek to attack the unemployed, the disabled, outsiders, night get stuck in the narrow contstraints of nationalism, but in the end like any new democracies, opposition to its policies will still be encouraged. It's gotta be better than the template already in place, some say I'm a dreamer, but I am not the only one, and in all my hopes I really do like the idea of Cameron and his coherts getting a real good kicking, and I support a new society that arises that creates new possibilities, against the stagnation of the present system in place, a new era of radical change.
The Westminster government tells us we must keep a 70 year old weapons system called Trident, operating from the West Coast Of Scotland, and Independence threatens this, but they don't say is that there are millions of pounds worth of oil and gas reserves here too, and that by removing Trident these fields become more viable for the economic prosperity of Scotland as a whole, that could see it becomming one of the richest economies on the planet.
I truly wish more people were taking a stand and challenging the notions of the British state. A new politics that everyone is not afraid to engage with, that excites, and does not forget the power of the individual.more power to the people. The powerful do not want to see anymore change, but the people daily are increasingly restless., and with collective pressures for social, economic and political change, surely that can only be a good thing. Yes or No, we need people to keep pushing for a more caring society, some radical change, otherwise the status quo just sits back and smiles, carries on beating us, this political consensus and our compliance I believe needs to be shattered, for the sake of us all.Voting does not change thing, many of my friends say, but critical support for an independent Scotland is better than no change at all. This celtic cousin is holding his breath , hoping for something that changes our political landscape forever, whatever the outcome, the way the UK is governed will never be the same again, and the voters decisions in Scotland, whether they vote or not will have a lasting impact on our lives here in West Wales too.
Monday 15 September 2014
William S. Burroughs (5.2/14 -2/8/97) - We have a new type of rule now.
Fabrizio Cassatta
In terms of political philosophy, William Burroughs was never far from hitting the nail on the proverbial head. Hopefully these machines of order are finally losing their credibility.
' We have a new type of rule now. Not one-man rule, one rule of aristocracy or plutocracy, but of small groups elevated to positions of absolute power by random pressures, and subject to political and economic factors that leave little room for decision. They are representatives of abstract forces who have reached power through surrender of self. That iron-willed dictator is a thing of the past. There will be no more Stalins, no more Hitlers. The rulers of this most insecure of all worlds are rulers by accident, inept, frightened pilots at the controls of a vast machine they cannot understand, calling in experts to tell them which buttons to push.'
- Interzone Viking 1989
Saturday 13 September 2014
Drape the Drones Event - Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st September 11.30 Aberporth/Cardigan
Saturday September 20th -Sunday September 21st
Please keep these dates in your diary!
We in Wales will be joining others across the world to mark this years International Day of Peace by campaigning against militarism, war preparations and armaments with a particular focus on drones at Aberporth and the Trident nuclear weapons system and its replacement.
Drones are currently being 'tested' for the British army at Aberporth in Ceredigion, West Wales, and this will be the venue for the main protest on Sunday 21st September.
'Warm up' events in Cardigan town will take place on the previous day.
Details:
1.Saturday 20th September
Vigil/leafleting
Following successful anti-Nato vigil at Cardigan Town hall, this event will focus on the military drones at Aberporth. Trident and its replacement, ant-militarism and war in General.
Contact Bob Doyle : bobdoyle70@yahoo.com
At 12. midday there will be a special (and beautiful) 'Drape the Drones' focus at the same venue with 'Wool against weapons' knitting will be on display, , singing and bubbles.
It is hoped that following these events, the good folk of Cardigan will be better informed about these issues and feel encouraged to come to the main event on Sunday.
2. Sunday 21st September
Entrance to Parc Aberporth Drones ' Centre of Excellence' ( from the main road A487. Post code sa43 2BN
11.30 Assemble
12.00 midday - 1.15 pm
This positive event will include songs, poems, speeches and music followed at 1.00 to 1.15 by a knitted photo call around the roundabout at the entrance, and with your help a noisy finale.
Please come along and join me.
Bring shakers, drums, musical instruments for a noisy big finish and show - and feel our strength . Please come and join me.
Friday 12 September 2014
Childhood under seige
This animation was made in response to the crises in Gaza. These drawings are original pictures by Palestinian children from the area which depict both the brutalities experienced in the 2008 war and their hopes and dreams for the future.
During the most recent conflict one child died every hour in Gaza and every child there, aged 6 and over has already experienced 3 or more wars.
Despite the ceasefire, the Israeli-imposed blockade remains and will ensure that children growing up in Gaza with continue to live through extreme hardship.
The focus of this piece is to grow, spread and strengthen awareness of the Palestinian struggle for freedom so that there can be a positive and just future.
Animation by Plastic Horse
Sound Design by Giacomo Trivelli
Written and produced by Katie Clark
There are over 800,000 children living in Gaza, they make up more than half of the population. They remain a source of optimism and much courage, the world should not forget them as they are forced to live out their lives in the ruins of a concentration camp. Their rights to education curtailed with closures and curfews of schools and classes, leading to insecurity and dermoralisation combined with home demolishments, arbitrary arrests, checkpoints, and the wall, daily they are witnewss to injustices and oppression.Today it is these children who are still paying the highest price of this conflict.
Yet despite all this these children remain a source of optimism, hope and much courage. My dream is that they all grow up and find their much deserved freedom.
Lessons
Lesson 2 :- Rebuild
Lesson 3 :- Boycott
Lesson 4 :- Resist
Lesson 5 :- We build life
Tuesday 9 September 2014
The B.B.C is like an advertising agency that makes us believe in distortion
According to the BBC, the economy is growing, there are more jobs than ever and the banks are our friends, and they keep telling us about some rich individuals who are expecting a baby, that their mum is a bit cross, seemingly furious because opinion polls seem to suggest that the vote for Scotland's independence is getting close, hardly any coincidence.
Last week hardly a muster of the daily protests against Nato in South Wales, and nothing on the enormous protests that took place in defence of the NHS. Do they tell us that Corporal Clegg is a plonker, that his puppeteer Cameron seems intent on taking us back to the 1980's, to many of us his daily onslaughts as bad as is hero Thatcher. The BBC seems to waffle, waffle, waffle, then add some bollocks, then waffle some more. Don't get me started on their pathetic reportage on the siege of Gaza, an illegal occupation that is still happening now. their reportage one-sided, another contortion in entirety.
There is something rotten going on here. There hiding all the real news from us, we have become their stooges, they want us to stop questioning, they just want to hypnotise us with banality and lies. The effect of their manipulations, is that it produces distortions that are not characteristic on the fibres of truth in which we live and breathe.
So lets start ignoring them, I already have, we have the internet, books and many other sources of alternative media and information, so use them. Time to switch the brainwashers off.
Rant over here's a bit of music.
The Weary Blues - Artie Matthews (1915)
Sunday 7 September 2014
Dream Strategies
Poem written after attending Anti-Nato Peace Camp
in Newport, South Wales 30/8/14 - 5/09/14
where I joined groups of individuals,
gathered to say no to austerity, yes to welfare, no to warfare.
I used to be asleep
Forever I would dream,
Last week got lost in live stream
At a camp that awoke
Rushing and gurgling
With defiant necessity,
As art of communication
Was relearnt, again and again
Beyond consensus
In syncopated time,
A dedicated lifeforce
Beyond copyright
Every voice released
A beautiful gentle sigh,
No gods, no masters
The earth listened
As we sent out love letters
From our hearts,
And the sun shined
Whispered thanks.
Thursday 4 September 2014
Subcomandante Marcos - In our dreams we have seen another world
Marcos spokesperson and 'anti-leader' of the Zapatistas, has become an icon of the global anti-capitalist struggle - a 'postmodern Che Guevara,' as one journalist put it. He's refused to disclose his identity though the Mexican government says he is Rafael Sebatian Guillier Vicente, formerly a professor in Mexico City. He has written more than two hundred essays and stories and published more than twenty books. His words have always bought me comfort and have been a source of much inspiration. Another world is not only possible it is inevitable.
'In our dreams we have seen another world, an honest world, a world decidedly more fair than the one in which we now live. We saw that in this world there was no need for armies, peace, justice and liberty were so common that no one talked about them as far-off concepts but as things were named in this world. And in this world there was reason and goodwill in the government, and the leaders were clear-thinking people; they ruled by obeying. This world was not a dream from the past, it was not something that came to us from our ancestors. It came from ahead, from the next step we were going to take. And so we started to move forward to attain the dream, make it come down and sit at our tables, light our homes, grow in our cornfields, fill the hearts of our children, wipe our sweat, heal our history.And it was for all. This is what we want. Nothing more, nothing less. Now we follow our path toward our true heart to ask it what we must do. We will return to our mountains to speak in our own tonque and in our own time. Thank you to the brothers and sisters who looked after us all these days. May your footsteps follow our path.
1994
;;
Monday 1 September 2014
Noam Chomsky (2014) "The Future of Humanity"
Reloaded
' If someone was watching this from Mars, they'd think this species was insane.'
Friday 29 August 2014
Some aphorisms from the diaries of Mark Twain on my 47th birthday
Mark Twain
' The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much : if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.
Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of ourselves and how little.
Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
There are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice.
Of all God's creatures, there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.
(um I've been cat sitting in Wood Green in North London.)
NATO comes to Wales to plan War : Join others from across the country to say no.
Next week, heads of governments from more than than 60 countries will descend on Newports Celtic Manor Park for NATO's latest gathering.
I will be heading down too, on Saturday to join a week long peace camp protesting against its plans. At the moment the two cities of Cardiff and Newport are in lock down to try to prevent people opposing NATO's presence and dubious agenda, at a cost of millions in this age of austerity.
A national demonstration will be held tomorrow Saturday 30th August http://bit.ly/1qhhA07
It is hoped that thousands of people from Wales and across the country will embark on a series of protests across the two cities, and attend an alternative counter summit that will be taking place. I have packed my tent to join others at this Peace Camp http://bit.ly/1libFb4
Hopefully NATO will receive a clear message of defiance to their plans, saying no to a summit that takes place only weeks after the centenary of World War 1, which forever serves as a reminder of the bloodshed and horror that empire,militarism, nationalism, and yes organisations like NATO help to perpetuate.
It is heartwarming to learn that a non religious/non partisan vigil for peace in support of the opposition to the NATO summit, will be taking place in my hometown of Aberteifi/Cardigan, West Wales from 11 a.m to 1.pm on the Guildhall steps.
An alternative message of peace must be delivered.
http:www.nonatonewport.org
https://www.facebook.com/events/478707445588453
Wednesday 27 August 2014
Dear Darling
We can cite the tens of thousands of working families relying on foodbanks, the sick and disabled people commiting suicide because of benefit cuts, the rising numbers of children in poverty.
Britain on its way to being the most unequal country in the world according to Oxfam, pensioners being payed the lowest pensions in Europe while the income gap rockets between working people and a super wealthy elite, who use their power and influence to maintain the status quo.
Alex Salmond smashed you to bits the other night, seeing you as an opponent who sides with the tories, that would push us all further into poverty.
Your message appalling for someone who is supposed to be in opposition to the Conservatives and their cronies. Darling, your message simply appalling. xx
Tuesday 26 August 2014
Time to end todays modern slave trade.
For over 400 years more than 15 million, men, women and children were the victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, one of the deadliest chapters in human history.It is a sad fact that there are more people in slavery today than during the entire period of the International Slave Trade.
The United Nations defines slavery as " when someone is coerced against their will into making money for someone else.
According to the International Labour Organisation, almost 21 million people are enslaved into forced labour worldwide generating an estimated $150 billion in illegal profits each day, forced into labour in the global economy.
They are exploited by private individuals or enterprises,with economic self interest and moral convictions cast aside, many of todays' capitalist corporations, still turn a blind eye, still profiting from peoples misery and exploitation. Sadly too 4.5 million are victims of forced sexual exploitation.It is such an unfortunate fact that modern day slavery helps too, to fuel corruption and organised crime. Over 130 goods from more than 70 countries are still produced by forced labour.
Despite being remembered on the International Day for the Rememberance of the Slave Trade on August 23 every year, when on this day in 1791 the slaves of Saint Dominique (now known as Haiti) began an uprising. though courageous, it did not bring down the slave trade, .
We must today provide safe harbours, make sure that victims forced into illegal activities are not prosecuted
and that that are provided with shelter,treated with respect and dignity and the means to escape their oppression, and given the means and assistance available to try and help them rebuild their lives.
We should continue to be asking large companies to take action to ensure that as consumers we are contributing to the end of modern day slavery instead of propping it up.
Let us remember too as NATO meets next week in Newport, South Wales, UK, that its core member states play central roles, and are complicit in many of the causes of conflict that lead to slavery and trafficking.We should not forget that NATO is nothing more than a war machine, whose entire raison d'etre, is to start wars ,and fuel the voracious appetite of the arms industry, acting belligerently like modern day slave masters, who only show contempt for their slaves.
It is time this distortion is stopped now. End the suffering and exploitation of people across the globe.
A couple of useful links:-
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/
http://walkfree.org/