Joel Hill ( 7/10/1879 - 19/11/15) - Gone but not forgotten.

On 19 November 1915: Swedish songwriter, cartoonist and itinerent worker, Joel Emanuel Hagglund, aka Joe Hill, was executed by firing squad in Salt Lake City, Utah, for a crime he didn't commit. Joe was an organiser and songsmith for the anarcho-synicalist Industrial Workers of the World. The Wobblies as IWW members were called, were unrepentant revolutionaries, calling for ' one big union' and for the overthrow of capitalism.
Swedish born, he emigrated  to New York aged 23, with his brother Paul, after the death of his parents, spending his time as a wandering itinerant and musical troubadour, engaging in the struggles of his time, hopping from one freight train to the next, working as a labourer, washer of dishes, sweeper of floors, moving cargo on docks, picking crops and working in construction. He was later to adopt the name Joe Hill after being blacklisted after trying to start  a union in Chicago.
Joe Hill active in the Labour movement  throughout his live,he would go to Mexico at the time of the revolution in 1911, fighting with his comrades under a red flag like the true rebel that he was, tryng to overthrow the dictator Porfirio Diaz. Next stop onto San Diego in 1912vto support fellow workers protesting against police banning of street meetings. Then onto British Columbia helping organise a national construction strike, then on to San Pedro to help dockworkers. Joe saw his music as a weapon in the class war, composing songs to be sung on soapboxes, picket lines or in jail.Hill had taken popular songs of the day and inserted his own lyrics,satirical, irreverent, often humorous,commenting on the plight of the working class in America. 
He would inspire many, his fellow workers and comrades, but to the bosses he was someone to be feared, someone they considered dangerous, he was in their eyes a marked man. 
In January 1914, he was arrested in Salt Lake City on trumped up charges and accused of murder. On the evening of 10th January 1914 in Utah  he sought medical treatment for gunshot wounds, he claimed they had been inflicted upon him after quarrel with a man over a woman, and refused to elaborate anymore, earlier that evening in another part of town, a grocer and his son had been shot and killed. One of the assailants was wounded, so Hill's injury  implicated  him in the incident. Yet despite the uncertainty of witnesses, no one coming forward to identify him as one of the assailants at the scene of the crime no blood of Hills found at the scene a local jury was convinced of his guilt. No physical  evidence linking him to the murder he was accused of.
He was scheduled to be shot by firing squad,  this  caused outrage across the world.  an international campaign to exonerate him was launched, from Britain to other European countries and even President Woodrow Wilson calling for a retrial.  Those looking at the case eventually declared its willingness to hear testimony from the woman's husband, but Hill loyally  refused to identify his alleged assailant in case it damaged the reputation of the lady involved.
Sadly the eventual day came and he was executed and shot down by firing squad on this day 19th November 1915. 
Whilst waiting his execution he wrote the following words which were later turned into song :-

My will is easy to decide
for I have nothing to divide
My kin don't need to weep and moan
Moss does not cling to a rolling stone
My body?  oh, If I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce
And let the merry breeze blow
My dust to where some flowers grow
Perhaps some fading flower then
Would soon grow up and grow green again
This is my last and final will
Good luck to all of you, Joe Hill

In his final letter to IWW leader Bill Haywood he wrote: "Goodbye Bill. I die like a true blue rebel. Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize."
He died proclaiming  his innocence and just before he was assassinated  in reply  to a question if he had anything further to say he answered "Fire" unfortunately they did.
Up to 30,000 people would attend his funeral, he was subsequently cremated and his ashes divided into 600 envelopes, that were sent to IWW branches across the globe. From his conviction  to his death he became an icon for workers everywhere,  and his subsequent  execution sent echoes around the world. For many his spirit and his legacy lives on.


The Ballad of Joe Hill - Phil Ochs

Make Royals Pay for Palace Renovation.

Yesterday it was announced that the royal residence of Buckingham Palace is to undergo a major  refurbishment to the whopping estimated cost of £389 million,at a time when there is a national housing crisis, the NHS is in crisis, austerity is forcing cuts in many front line services.
In these hard times  how many hungry mouths could be fed, instead of wasting it on these parasites.Currently Liz and her family are currently extremely wealthy individuals living rent-free, whilst many of the Queen's subjects are increasingly finding it hard to get by. Britain is going through a time of national economic and social stress due to Brexit, austerity and so on.The Conservative Government currently imposing a draconian, financially-crippling sanction system on jobseekers because they don’t want to pay any money to people who are out of work and simply don’t care if those people come to harm as a result.I'm sure the oldest and most vulnerable in our society are happy Liz is having her house refurbished at tax payers expense, when they cant afford to heat their homes or put enough nutritional meals on the table.Over a million Brits were forced into using foodbanks last year, the NHS is in ".5bn of debt, with hospital chiefs warning us its capacity is stretched to breaking point.And if the public wasn't angry enough already, despite their being no money in the pot for a collapsing NHS, the government have managed to find an extra £389 million down the back of sofa for repairs to flipping Liz's 775 extravagant pad.
The royals think Buckingham Palace is theirs to use and ours to pay for,but its time they were told to look after the buildings themselves, raise their own revenue to fund maintenance or time for them to give the palace back to the people. It would probably be far less expensive to actually  knock the run down building down, it is not fit for purpose anyway , a relic of another age, Liz does not even spend much time there anyway, over at her other modest pads, windsor or balmoral. We could alternatively replace it  and build much needed affordable social houses on the site and simply abolish the monarchy at huge savings to the whole country and the public purse. It's not even the most beautiful building to look at , just an extravagant untidy mess.
In terms of public  perception. the timing of this announcement could not have been worse,thousands of  people seem to think,that it is the royals themselves who should foot the bill for Her Maj’s luxury pad.A petition suggesting The Crown and its estates should pay for the renovations has received just shy of 15,000 backers. I would urge you sign it , the British monarchy have sponged of us long  enough. While they keep  receiving more free money from tax payers while there are cuts to NHS, cuts to ESA and other disability benefits, homelessness and poverty are rife and we are told this is austerity. This  latest announcement is immoral and obscene.It is vile that we are even considering this at all. Public money should not be wasted away for this purpose when there are so many more pressing needs of much more deserving urgency. Whatever your beliefs about the monarchy, it is a slap in the face to know that due to financial mismanagement within the Royal Household that  their buildings have fallen into such states of disrepair. It is time to stop using public money to prop up them up,the decision to give away our money wasn’t actually  made by the royals ,it was made by Theresa May and her Conservative Government, their handing the royals £396m for a makeover of Buckingham palace is simply scandulous and outrageous.
The Queen using some of her vast wealth to pay for the upkeep of the Palace - would be an act that I could support and one that would create greater national unity.I just don't want the funds to come out of benefits for pensioners struggling to pay heating bills, single-parent families, funds for the NHS etc at this difficult time.

Today We Sing (Project Zouqaq)

Today We Sing (Project Zouqaq)

Inspiring music video from the Gaza strip which allows us to see this place from a different perspective. In this place where electricity flows for just eight hours each day, in this open prison where 1.8 million Palestinians are  now contained. Many young Gazan musicians and singers  are starved of permanent performance spaces,but despite bombardment, explosions, rockets, violence, struggle, terror, borders, all these restrictions, increasingly many are now using the internet ,when  that is they can access it ,to display their talents and share their messages of hope, peace and freedom to the world. Awesome. May they keep on singing.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arSHRKBXOxU&app=desktop

Director
Yousef Nateel
Art Supervisor
Abd Alrahman Alsabbah
Director of photography
Hussien Jaber
Camera Cast
Hussien Jaber
Khalid Tuaima
Youssif Almashharawi
Camera Assistant
Marwan Alsawaf
Mohammed Nateel
Khalil Nateel
Drone
Rushdi Alsarraj
Editing
Yousef Nateel
Color Correction & Grading
Mahmoud Abu Zayda
Music arrangement
Mohammed Salem
Music Supervision
Alaa Shublaq
Mohammed Albaz
Mixing and Mastering
Ali Aljojo
Recorded at
Mashael Studio
Oud Player
Mussa Abu ZanounaReem AnbarGuitaristMohammed AlbazAya Mghamis
Cajon DrumSaid Fadel
Performers by order
Khaled Abu Ramadan
Ameer Abu Mualiq - CAMP’S SON
Mahmoud Salman - INTIFADA
Iyad Zorob - RIOTS
Mohammed Lafi - RIOTS
Zina Abu Al Ouf
Abd El Monem Awad AKA FAWDA
Mahmoud Almughrabi – Almughrabi
Mohammed Alaidi – Handala
Sari Ibrahim
Ayman Mghamis – Abu Joury
Hadeel Fawzi
Mohammed Albaz
General Supervisor & Coordinator
Ayman Mghamis aka Abu Joury
Special Thanks
Montaser Alsabe
Hazem Alabyad
Hussein Owda
Anas Alnajjar
Mohammed Almadhoun
Fares Anbar
Special Thanks To Marna House Hotel
Produced by
Riksteatern logo
Funded by
Postkodlotteriet logo

Executive Producer
SKILLS MEDIA PRODUCTION
HARDY SKILLS Group
© 2016

An injury to one is an injury to all

On June 27th, 1905, The Industrial Workers of the World , also known as the wobblies was founded at a twelve day Convention in Chicago.In the belief that industrial unionism, could it come into being, would tend to be revolutionary.The wobbly motto is ' An injury to all  is an injury to all.'
They were noted for their use of poetry and song to promote their radical ideas, publicise strikes and other protests and generally present the case that still  holds up today, that there can be no solution to industrial warfare, no end to injustice and want, until the profit system itself is abolished.In striving to unite labor as a class in one big union. The IWW also seeks to build the structure of a new and better social order within the shell of the old system which fails to provide for the needs of all.Combined with a commitment to workers solidarity which they have a rich history off, along with their militant tactics.
Their work was designed to provoke thought, and was deliberately immediate in its message, in order to get it across to as many people as possible. In the present moment progressives- and in fact, all people of good will- need to reassert and embrace the political, social and economic case for, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” We need to explicitly and loudly embrace a movement across the divides of race, religion, ethnicity, gender and sexual identity against hate and greed.
The wobblies  are still going strong , still organising, still resisting.In these divided times,of economic despair,  they continue to be a strong radical voice that stands defiantly, on behalf of the people, following an old tradition of solidarity that does not seperate along lines of nationality, race or gender, speaking too to the unemployed, the sick, and  the marginalised  spreading messages of hope among the carnage that is  currently being unveiled.

I happen to be a member, an organisation that I believe does not condemn the actions of its membership, that listens and understands.

An injury to one is an injury to all


Whether you're a Socialist, Trotskyist

Marxist-Leninist, anarchist,

or a concerned individual

you do not have to feel alone,

we need to have each other's back

when we're under fascist attack,

standing  as one,  from branch to branch

building a fairer world, within our grasp,

working for equality against exploitation

defending oppressed people across the globe,

solutions to problems of injustice we will seek

with unity's strength we can all be free,

solidarity forever, lives and breathes

an Injury to  one is an injury to all.


 Useful links :-
 
https://iww.org/ 

https://twitter.com/_IWW 

https://www.facebook.com/IWWCymru/posts/1920730238154603 

The continuing relevance of Woody Guthries song Deportee ( Plane Wreck at Los Gatos.) and the power of Song

One of Woody Guthrie's greatest protest songs,is Deportees.It details the tragic event of January 28, 1948 and the crash of a U.S Immigration Service plane near Los Gatos Canyon, 20 miles (32 km) west of California, carrying undocumented immigrants who were being deported from California to Mexico. During World War II there was a shortage of farm workers in California so the federal government set up the braceros program which allowed Mexican immigrants to legally come to California and relieve the shortage. A common trick of the time was to bring the low-paid workers over the border from Mexico with contracts that were intentionally flawed (in English) so that they would have no legal force.Following a season of backbreaking work in California's orchards and fruit fields, the braceros would at times be rounded up as illegals because of the invalid contracts and deported without being paid at all. Once their contracts were up, they were, in a sense, taken back to the border.The Mexican workers were fine to be used as cheap labour and then simply cast aside when they were not needed anymore.After the war, the California growers liked the cheap labor so much that they encouraged (bribed) congress to keep it in place. It wasn't ended until 1964.
Subsequently all 32 people on board this plane were killed. But while news accounts listed the names of the four people in the flight crew, the 28 undocumented victims were just listed as Mexican deportees. This upset folk musician Woody  and inspired by what he considered the racist mistreatment of the passengers before and after the accident, (who were buried in a mass grave and not given individual gravestones, just marked by a single plaque, which read only : “28 Mexican Citizens Who Died In An Airplane Accident Near Coalinga California On Jan. 28, 1948 R.I.P.”) to explode into anger and write a poem entitled "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos." It wasn't until nearly 10 years later that a Martin Hoffman , a teacher put the words to music.Becoming known the world over as "Deportee".Woody humanised the dead migrants as only he could.To Guthrie, they are not merely deportees: They have names (Juan, Rosalita, Jesus, Maria) and families.
Tim Z. Hernandez, a California poet and author, was also offended. In late 2010, while researching archives for his novel “Mañana Means Heaven,” he came across the headline “100 Prisoners See An Airplane Fall From the Sky.” A story about the crash, and it changed the course of his career. He grew up in the farming communities of the San Joaquin Valley, and he connected with Guthrie’s poem because it echoed his own feelings of injustice for the 28 Mexican men and women who were left unnamed. As he continued to read about the incident, Hernandez realized that this plane crash and the crash mentioned in Guthrie’s song were one and the same.But instead of simply lamenting the loss, Hernandez embarked on a nearly two-year quest for the long-forgotten names.Teaming up with the Diocese of Fresno to track down the workers' names, their family members and their stories. While the diocese's church register had partial, misspelled names, the writer and diocese officials pulled death certificates for all the workers and reconstructed their full names. With the help of Carlos Rascon, Director of Cemeteries for the Diocese of Fresno, he obtained lists from the Fresno Hall of Records, the Deparment of Labour and St. John’s Cathedral, where the original funeral mass was held. The lists matched, and the two worked to adjust misspellings of the names. Hernandez also decided to write “All They Will Call You,” a book about the tragedy to try to bring attention to those who were forgotten which hopefully will come out next year.
Also with the solidarity and help from the folk and grassroots community was able to amass enough money for a new headstone to mark their memory. Like Woody Guthrie before him he knew that immigrants were more than just labels like “illegal” or “deportee,” they were human beings that deserved to be treated with respect and dignity.The victims were honored in September 2013 by more than 600 people who had gathered at Holy Cross Cemetery in Fresno for an elaborate memorial service and the unveiling of a large headstone that lists each victim.Renditions of "Deportee" were performed at the memorial.

 Their names read thus :-

Miguel Negroros Alvarez

Francisco Llamas Duram

Santiago Garcia Elizondo

Rosalio Padilla Estrada

Tomasa Avena De Garcia

Bernabe Lopez Garcia

Salvador Sandoval Hernandez

Severo Medina Lara

Elias Trujillo Macias

Jose Rodriguez Macias

Tomas Padilla Marquez

Luis Lopez Medina

Manuel Calderon Merino

Luis Cuevas Miranda

Martin Razo Navarro

Ygnacio Perez Navarro

Roman Ochoa Ochoa

Ramon Ramirez Paredes

Apolonio Ramirez Placencia

Guadalupe Laura Ramirez

Alberto Carlos Raygoza

Guadalupe Hernandez Rodriguez

Maria Santana Rodriguez

Juan Valenzuela Ruiz

Wencealado Ruiz

Jose Valdivia Sanchez

Jesus Meza Santos

Baldomero Marcas Torres

Others aboard the flight:

Francis “Frank” Atkinson, Long Beach, pilot

Marion Harlow Ewing, Balboa, co-pilot

Lillian “Bobbie” Atkinson (married to Frank), Long Beach, stewardess

Frank E. Chaffin, Berkeley, immigration guard

It is the power of a song that has kept this tragedy of this incident alive, long after all the participants and witnesses have died.After stealing Mexican  and Native American land for years, despite this history of injustice a certain politician now wants to build even more walls of oppression. This  song continues to reminds us that the immigration problem isn't new, but has a long history. Woody's song, and the wide variety of musicians who have covered the song over the years reflects the sense of loss inspired by the story, and serves to  remind us of the many immigrants who have worked, suffered, been deported and continue to do so.Mexican farm workers, both legal and illegal,  still being used in great numbers. Many of them commute between Mexico and California annually as work comes and goes. Woody's words can still move us, raising attention of the many neglected, disadvantaged, downtrodden  people who are effected by American Governmental policies in our present times.
I am currently delighted however that every morning I wake up I get to read about the fantastic anti Trump demos taking place across the U.S and the amazing people that still manage to find the courage to stand up and speak out for a world where security is based on cooperation and community. And a world where  all people are able to reach their full human potential and are treated with respect. No human is illegal. Love trumps hate and so does human dignity.

Here is a link to Tim Z Hernandez own website that offers much more additional information to the event that inspired Woody Guthrie's poem and song :- https://timzhernandez.com/

Deportees

Words; Woody Guthrie 

Music; Marty Hoffman

The crops are all in and the peaches are rott'ning,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They're flying 'em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again

Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;
You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be "deportees"

My father's own father, he waded that river,
They took all the money he made in his life;
My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees,

And they rode the truck till they took down and died.

Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract's out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,

They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.

We died in your hills, we died in your deserts,
We died in your valleys and died on your plains.
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes,

Both sides of the river, we died just the same.

The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon,
A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills,
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?

The radio says, "They are just deportees"

Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
And be called by no name except "deportees"?

Here are some of my favourite versions of this song.

Pete Seeger - Deportee

 Christy Moore - Deportee

Ani di Franco and Ry Cooder - Deportee

Outernational with Tom Morello and Cuentame -  Deportee

with moving video that highlights the continuing struggle of migrants and deportees cross this great nation.
 

Supermoon

the moon above me
so calm, still and tranquil,
shedding beams of light
among flickering candles of the stars,
clearing away cobwebs from my head
so far away and distant perhaps,

but in this moment within my grasp
I feel her awesome power,
when I fall asleep in surrender later
between dream and awakening,
she will cling on and wait
continue to release her strength.
.

Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism - Dr. Lawrence Britt

In the spring of 2003, ex-corporate executive and political scientist Lawrence W. Britt published an essay in Free Inquiry magazine entitled “Fascism Anyone?” In his work, Britt examined the traits of the two governments that formed the original historical model for fascism, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and five other proto fascist regimes that imitated that model, Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, Papadopoulos’s Greece, Pinochet’s Chile, and Suharto’s Indonesia. He identified 14 characteristics that were common to all of them.
These traits have since been widely accepted as the 14 defining characteristics of fascism.
Nearly three generations removed from the horrors of Nazi Germany, all of these regimes may have been overthrown, but fascism’s principles can still be found in many nations. History tends to repeat itself because many leaders and nations fail to learn from history, or they draw the wrong conclusions. Surely we are living in frightening times when a individual like Donald Trump with his extremist views, can sway enough voters to allow him to get into his position of power and authority, whose tactics aren’t unlike those of the fascists who came before him. It goes something like this:-
First, they isolate and attack marginalized people with little political power, like Muslims and undocumented workers. Later, they graduate to  other opponents of their dangerous right-wing populism. Finally, they play the victim and deny adamantly that they’ve done anything wrong.Trump's campaign’s overt demagoguery, vicious misogyny, racism, violent speech, and complete disregard for truth and values of human decency combined  with his macho cult of personality have released plausible shouts of fascism from every corner.
The following then considers, in fourteen points, the things which may happen to a culture when it is heading towards a fascistic regime, that can potentially threaten our civil liberties.As Donald Trump  becomes President of the USA by rattling the cages of racial anxiety,with his incendiary rhetoric it still serves as a powerful warning and wake up call,.

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Rebel hearts

( thank you Glen Johnson for the lines no 14 and 15)


Over the years, habits can change
but we must continue to have desire,
to express and be free
to be true to one's self,
seeking change for others
stopping humanities foolishness,
with rebel hearts allow the meek
to  inherit the earth,resist their orders,
the jungle of superiority
and privilege, we will overthrow,
beyond voices of consensus
all obstacles  will simply be removed,
our hearts in abundance carry freedoms torch
even when  there seems to be a glitch in the matrix
and everything seems to be getting worse
we will keep pushing in another direction
with an  inner craving full of resilience
to hard to be torn apart as they try to stop us
divide us into a million  pieces
our rebel hearts will keep on resisting
beyond life's negations keep on beating.

Dear World

Dear world, there is much darkness
but you at least contain many glories,
things for us to reach out and share
wine, music and beautiful words,
the hurrying, bursting veins of hope
carried  in starlight away from misty clouds,
the caressing of hands, companionship and laughter
that can cancel out this age of grief and sorrow,
can help light a path through the dark,
and though everything feels stormy now
these days of confusion, history standing ashamed,
you  still allow us to wear compassion on our lips,
thank you then  earth, keep allowing us to look ahead
in the unity of consciousness, our weeping will cease;
beyond frustration, we can reverse the process and befriend.

Goodbye Leonard Cohen, ( 21 /9/34 - 7/11/16) - Bringer of so much light.

Following news of Donald Trump's election, did not think the world could get any darker, I have  woken to the very sad news that  legendary visionary Canadian singer, songwriter,  poet and artist Leonard Cohen has died at the age of 82. The news was announced on his Facebook page late last night, it reads  it reads: ‘It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away.‘We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries.’In a statement to Rolling Stone, his son Adam, said: ‘My father passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles with the knowledge that he had completed what he felt was one of his greatest records.‘He was writing up until his last moments with his unique brand of humor.’

That last song  he had  written was  in reference to Cohen’s long-time muse Marianne Ihlen, who died earlier this year. It was revealed after her death that Cohen had written her a last letter two days before she died, telling her:

" Well Marianne it's come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. And you know that I've always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don't need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road."
Born into a Jewish family in Montreal, Canada 1934 and raised in an affluent English-speaking neighborhood of the city, Cohen read Spanish poet Federico García Lorca as a teenager, learned to play guitar from a flamenco musician and formed a country band called the Buckskin Boys.
He attended McGill University when his poetry book, "Let Us Compare Mythologies," was published in 1956 to critical acclaim. It was followed by "The Spice-Box of Earth" in 1961. His first novel, "The Favourite Game," came out in 1963.He published several more poetry collections while living on the Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s and began to get wide notice with his experimental novel "Beautiful Losers" in 1966..All  have been a  a profound influence for me over the years.
Disillusioned with his meager income from writing poetry , Cohen turned to songwriting and landed an audition in 1967 with John Hammond, the producer who had discovered Dylan. Hammond signed him to Columbia Records, which would remain Cohen's label for five decades. His first album, "Songs of Leonard Cohen," came out in 1968.Cohen’s songs over sixty decades blended seemingly conflicting impulses: spirituality verging on the divine,  images of redemption and sexual desire combined a wicked sense of humor,carried  with such deep passion, which enabled him  to release such powerful emotional depth, with great understanding of the human condition.No other artist’s poetry and music felt or sounded  or touched in quite the way that his work did.
Cohen toured widely but also sought solace in meditation, far from the public eye.. For part of the 1990's he lived in a Zen Bhuddist monastery in the San Gabriel Mountains hust outside Los Angeles. Just weeks ago  he released another superb album You Want it Darker, an album continuing to shouw us his genius, his creative  gift, not afraid to touch on the subject of death, seemingly sensing it was not too far way.reflecting at length on his own mortality. And now this light has passed, a man who just seemed to keep going, but like all of us was taken away, gripped by the jaws of death. The world has lost another icon, a voice of inimitable force, a tower of strength.Of all the singer-songwiters  of his era labelled as poets, Cohen perhaps was the only one who truly bridged the divide.
Cohen who never married is survived by his daughter Lorca and his son Adam. So long Leonard Cohen. R.I.P

 Leonard Cohen - hallelujah

 Old poem that once dedicated to him

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/theres-crack-in-everything-thats-how_11.html

 There's crack in everything that's how the light gets in

( Thank you Leonard Cohen.)

There's a crack in everything
that's how the light gets in,
through empty gestures of times exhaust
that vent bitterness on tonque,
scars trace the nights laughter
sailing on ripped tides at dusk,
allow resurfacing days shadow to ignite
fizzing and nudging, in the process of awakening,
through depths of minds endeavor
moods of restless toil, 
voyages  of troubled sleep
deep in mood innate.
The magic of the moon,
in the dark shines bright,
waiting for dawns page to turn,
golden tickets of imagination,
in the ever present of eternity,
to purify and illuminate,
because there's a crack in everything,
that's how the light gets in.

Keeping hope alive

Good morning/bore da
are we all still dreaming,
as the foul stench of fascism lingers
and all round we feel so much pain,
dark shadows move among the morning light
but dreams of every man and woman can not be usurped,
in the act of simply believing
we can move all obstacles in our way,
we can still pull tomorrow down
keep rattling kaleidoscopes of change,
our thoughts are currently bruised
but together with love and persistance ,
we can grow stronger, singing songs of love
beyond the confusion, with deep yearning,
messages of faith and hope we can spread
with hard work we can change the locks,
here and there is life's true ideal
that can keep happiness alive,
the chains used to contain us
will no longer be required,
the air still smells of freedom
keeping hope alive.

Donald Trump elected new President of the USA : The stuff of nightmares.

Please pinch me, I seem to have woken to a nightmare. I am currently feeling shell-shocked along with many others across the globe with the news of Republican candidate Donald Trump’s ascension to the White House. It seems inconceivable that a man with such extreme and unpleasant views could  ever be elected President.But the fact is , he bloody has, I dread to think about what this means for the US and the rest of the world. I truly feel sick in the stomach. 
From the start of his campaign this sorry excuse for a man has relentlessly released a barrage of hate and abuse. In a country the size of the USA the fact that they could not find a worthier candidate to counter him makes my mind truly reel. Donald Trump's victory exposes how decrepit the U.S. political system has become after decades of two-party oligarchical rule. This is a man with ties to the racist far right, a pathological narcissist, xenophobic, authoritarian, climate-science-denying, misogynistic, who only entered the race intending to boost his media brand, and who horrifies and disgusts not just millions of working people, but a majority of the American ruling class.
This one-time leader of the racist birther movement  entered the  race calling Mexicans racists and repeatedly refused to condemn white supremacists, and issued policy proposals that seemed unbound by the limits of basic human decency.Trump promised to “bomb the shit” out of Middle Eastern countries, kill terrorist’s innocent families, do “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” and suggested that dipping bullets in pig's blood  may be sound counter terrorism policy.He has also promised to build a wall between the USA and Mexico, who has threatened to expel millions of people, wants Muslims to be banned from entering the US. Lewd and openly provocative an alleged sexual predator and molester who has bragged about women letting him kiss and grab them because he is famous."When you're a star they let you do it," Trump said. "You can do anything." "Grab them by the p----. You can do anything." Unforgiveable and shocking, he has also managed to upset the LGBT community who are no doubt quaking with fear at this moment in time. 
Despite all of this he still managed to win the election for President of the United States. What a damning testimony for the world's so called greatest democracy.We are truly now entering a time  of great fear and uncertainty, there has simply been an abject failure of progressives both here and abroad to understand this, let alone counter it. And when right-wing demagogues tap this pulsing vein of resentment.His victory will have a profound effect on all of us. Further empowering and strengthening the forces of the far right with his anti-immigrant policies. Deeply troubling times with echoes of the 1930's.
Europe’s far-right party leaders are currently cheering Trump’s win, including Britain’s Nigel Farage, the outgoing leader of the UK Independence Party, and France’s Marine Le Pen, who sent Trump a congratulatory tweet early Wednesday, adding a pat on the back for the “free” American people.
Le Pen’s father and founder of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, took to Twitter to say “long live President Trump!”  and claim Trump as part of a worldwide populist wave.“The American people want Donald Trump to be the people’s president. Today the United States, tomorrow France. Bravo!” Le Pen wrote.Far-right leaders in Holland, Belgium, Russia, the Czech Republic, Italy and Serbia, among other places, have also voiced support for Trump. The hard-right Greek party, Golden Dawn, went so far as to make a pro-Trump video starring neo-Nazis.
How the hell did Donald Trump become President of the USA with his blatant bigotry and disrespect towards women, minorities, and immigrants, get in to this position of power, this is a sentiment that many of us are currently expressing as we wake  to this nightmare.We are simply living in terrifying times.This deeply upsetting news effects us all. Donald Trump's election should be of concern for all who care about injustice.We should feel our anger, mourn, pray, and then do everything we can to fight hate and oppression. We must stand strong and united all over the world.Fear might have won for the moment but we should never give up hope, after all for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.We must  build and strengthen the forces of resistance to this odious horrible man.  

Here is a poem I wrote earlier, with tonque fully in cheek never truly expecting that Trump would actually become President.https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/intolerantina-poem-for-donald-trump.html

( Here's a poem for Donald Trump that I dropped down the pan
crumpled wet and soggy, maybe I shouldn't have saved it,
the original resting place captured the true essence of the man.)

Storm clouds  billowing now across a frightened sky
Voice of hate and division spreads discordant cry,
The well of hope seems to have dried
As arrogant voice rises making people blind.

Fractured  freedom try's to hold it's breath
In times of sadness between life and death,
As walls are proposed to keep people out
Waves of tears grow among seas of doubt.

If Trump triumphs and closes all the doors
Lets fear for his country as kindness gets lost,
As divisions get wider, faultlines  grow bigger
Waiting in the darkness, unreason cruelly sniggers.

Hate-mongers and right wing bigots dancing now
In the land of liberty, the home of the brave,
Is this the beginning or the end, as intolerance consumes
Is it not the time to mend existing cracks and wounds?

Lets pray for America, lets pray they are not too blind,
Lets pray for sanity, lets pray for human kind,
Lets pray for the world, lets pray for peace,
Lets pray that one day blinkered thought will cease. 

The Tonypandy riots and why Winston Churchill's name is not revered in the hearts and minds of the Welsh people.

On 7 November 1910  the South Wales Miners’ Federation  called a strike of all 12,000 men working in the Cambrian Combine’s pits in the Tonypandy area. They had walked  out over mining magnet D.A Thomas's decision to sack the whole workforce at  the Ely Pit in Penycraig, Rhondda.It had initially begun when miners had protested at the rate for working in a difficult seam. Which meant a seam 18 inches high with a couple of inches of water under their backs. They demanded better pay and working conditions. The miners found that Leonard Llewellyn, manager of Llwynypia’s Glamorgan Colliery, was using blacklegs to keep the pumps working.After one striker had been killed, a miner called Samuel Rhys and mass pickets had failed to stop police from scab herding,( they had bused  in scab workers from Cardiff to keep the colliery running,) few expected what came next, but  tensions already high erupted, and an uprising ensured, which is  now known as the Tonypandy riots.
Strikers attacked shops in the town which had put families on a credit blacklists not allowing them to buy enough food, thus aiding the bosses. Blackleg trains were stoned and halted. It would continue unabated for almost  two days and would involve violent clashes between striking miners and the Glamorgan Constabulary, reinforced by both the Bristol and Metropolitan police forces.
The anti socialist Winston Churchill, then the Home Secretary ordered the troops in to confront the striking Welsh miners at Tonypandy who justifiably saw this as a defense of the coal owners, Churchill getting the army involved with the sole intention of protecting the bosses interests alone, instead of those of the miners and their families. 

The question of whether troops fired on striking miners remains controversial to this day, as there appears to be no documentation, but they were certainly there and played a support role to the police and as a result there was deep anger at the troops being present at all.

Although no authentic record exists of casualties, as many of the miners would have refused treatment in fear of being prosecuted for their part in the riots, nearly 80 policemen and over 500 other people were injured,Thirteen striking miners from Gilfach Goch were arrested and prosecuted for their part in the unrest.The troops would remain in the Rhondda until October 1911.

After almost one year on strike these brave miners who had to endure so much hardship returned to work. Though their demands were not met, the strike helped change the face of British Trade Unionism, still inspiring workers fighting for better conditions today, giving rise in South Wales to increased militancy, the growth of revolutionary syndicalism in the workers struggle against their bosses.It would however leave bitter scars in the Rhondda, particularly as the miners were forced to return to work after having to agree to a paltry sum for the coal extracted, and because of Churchill's stance against the miners it would also also see thousands of miners blacklisted.

Because of this at the time  it would see Churchill being despised by many in the South Wales Valleys, and until his dying days, reviled by many as " the man who sent in the troops" and remains deeply unpopular  to this day for the actions that he took, becoming a hate figure for generations of Welsh men and women.A major factor in the dislike of Churchill's use of the military, was not in any specific action undertaken by the troops, but the fact that their presence prevented any strike action which might have ended the strike early in the miners' favour. The troops also ensured that trials of rioters, strikers and miner leaders would take place and be successfully prosecuted in Pontypridd in 1911. The defeat of the miners in 1911 was, in the eyes of the local community, a direct consequence of state intervention without any negotiation, and this action was seen as a direct result of Churchill's actions. In 2010, 99 years after the riots, a Welsh local council made objections to a street being named after Churchill in the Vale of Glamorgan because of his sending troops into the Rhondda. Jackie Griffin, clerk of Llanmaes council, stated he was unable to support such an “inappropriate name change” due to the fact that there is “still a strong feeling of animosity” towards Winston Churchill in the community.Sadly along with Margaret Thatcher he has  now become an official saint of the right wing of the bourgeoisie. 
And now adding further insult to the injury he once caused  we have to  put up with Winston Churchill’s tawdry image on every £5 banknote, along with his “blood, toil, tears and sweat” quote to a backdrop of parliament . He has replaced Elizabeth Fry, the progressively-minded social reformer and Quaker known as the “angel of prisons”, who has been on the note since 2001.The image of Churchill  on the  new five pound note is seen as a deeply  political act which also obscures and distorts the many other heinous acts that  he committed through the course of history, and simply extols a mouthpiece who advocated the crushing of strikes using military force here in Wales and other parts of the UK. His political philosophy alone is not one that I feel should make him worthy to be recognised in this way either, after all this was a man who was, inclined at all times to further the expansion of Empire, which resulted in famines, territorial theft and mass suffering, which were based on racist prejudices and a bigoted belief in the superiority of an imagined Anglo-Saxon race.Today the Churchill myth still prevails, and adding his face to the new bank notes will only repress and distort history further. In reality, Churchill was a warrior for the ruling class and a darling of British imperialism; he was racist, sexist, eugenicist and virulently anti-working class, endowed with an immense ego and a capacity for callous destructiveness. No number of five-pound notes can pay for his crimes. Lets not rewrite him out of history though, we should continue to teach generation to come of the true values he represented. Along with many other Welsh people, I do not consider him a man worthy of being used in this way.
The role of Churchill played in the above dispute is outlined in the book 'The Tonypandy Riots 1910-1911 by Gwyn Evans and David Maddox.

Virginia Woolf ( 25/1/ 1882 - 28/3/ 41) - Death of a moth

Virginia Woolf is one of my favourite Women British writers of the the 20th century who published short stories novels, including, "Mrs. Dalloways", "To the Lighthouse", and "The Waves" "A Room of One's Own" which focused on women's history in writing.Recognized as one of the major figures of modern literature, Woolf is highly regarded both for her innovative fiction techniques and insightful contributions to literary criticism. In her short fiction, she explored such themes as the elusive nature of storytelling and character study, the nature of truth and reality, and the role of women in society. Like her novels, these highly individualized, stylistic works are noted for their subjective explorations and detailed poetic narratives that capture ordinary experience while depicting the workings and perceptions of the human mind.

Virginia Adeline Stephen was born on the 25th of January 1882  the third child of Leslie Stephen, a Victorian man of letters, and Julia Duckworth. The Stephen family lived at Hyde Park Gate in Kensington, a respectable English middle class neighborhood. While her brothers Thoby and Adrian were sent to Cambridge, Virginia was educated by private tutors and copiously read from her father’s vast library of literary classics. 

She later resented the degradation of women in a patriarchal society, rebuking her own father for automatically sending her brothers to schools and university, while she was never offered a formal education.Woolf’s Victorian upbringing would later influence her decision to participate in the Bloomsbury circle, noted for their original ideas and unorthodox relationships.

Virginia’s mother died from rheumatic fever. Her unexpected and tragic death caused Virginia to have a mental breakdown at age 13. A second severe breakdown followed the death of her father, Leslie Stephen, in 1904. During this time, Virginia first attempted suicide and was institutionalized. According to nephew and biographer Quentin Bell, “All that summer she was mad.” The death of her close brother Thoby Stephen, from typhoid fever in November 1906 had a similar effect on Woolf, to such a degree that he would later be re-imagined as Jacob in her first experimental novel Jacob’s Room and later as Percival in The Waves. These were the first of her many mental collapses that would sporadically occur throughout her life, until her suicide in March 1941. 
Virginia Woolf wrote the following essay "The Death of the Moth" before she drowned herself  on the 28th  of  March 1941. In the essay she describes the circumstances revolving around a moth's death .In this powerful meditation she allows the reader to respect death and the power it has over us. She illustrates the universal struggle between life and death, portraying the valiance of the fight.but at same time acknowledging it's futility.As she examines the struggle of a moth trying to achieve something impossible by going through a windowpane to reach  the outdoors, Woolf sees the moth in a new light, a light that identifies the moth not as insignificent and in demand of pity, but a small creature of the world, a pure being that was afforded the gift of being "nothing but life."
The moths purpose is pure. The moth does not fear death, it fears losing the struggle. This is worse than death for the moth, and the moths ability to overcome the living fear of death is what draws Woolf to her and causes her not to pity, but to admire it for it's simple existence and the courage to dance upon the windowpane that brings his death.
An admirable essay and sentiment, but one that still fills my heart with fear and dread, not for me per say, but for those other gentle beings that I do not want  to see departing anyday soon.It has however helped me understand a little more,about  the eternal power that death has over us all, and although we may stop and stand still or pass away, life continues without us for everyone else.Virginia Woolf was more than just a women's writer she was a delicate observer of everyday life.
.
The Death of the Moth - Virginia Woolf

"Moths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths; they do not excite that pleasant sense of dark autumn nights and ivy-blossom which the commonest yellow-underwing asleep in the shadow of the curtain never fails to rouse in us. They are hybrid creatures, neither gay like butterflies nor sombre like their own species. Nevertheless the present specimen, with his narrow hay-coloured wings, fringed with a tassel of the same colour, seemed to be content with life. It was a pleasant morning, mid-September, mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than that of the summer months. The plough was already scoring the field opposite the window, and where the share had been, the earth was pressed flat and gleamed with moisture. Such vigour came rolling in from the fields and the down beyond that it was difficult to keep the eyes strictly turned upon the book. The rooks too were keeping one of their annual festivities; soaring round the tree tops until it looked as if a vast net with thousands of black knots in it had been cast up into the air; which, after a few moments sank slowly down upon the trees until every twig seemed to have a knot at the end of it. Then, suddenly, the net would be thrown into the air again in a wider circle this time, with the utmost clamour and vociferation, as though to be thrown into the air and settle slowly down upon the tree tops were a tremendously exciting experience.
The same energy which inspired the rooks, the ploughmen, the horses, and even, it seemed, the lean bare-backed downs, sent the moth fluttering from side to side of his square of the window-pane. One could not help watching him. One was, indeed, conscious of a queer feeling of pity for him. The possibilities of pleasure seemed that morning so enormous and so various that to have only a moth's part in life, and a day moth's at that, appeared a hard fate, and his zest in enjoying his meagre opportunities to the full, pathetic. He flew vigorously to one corner of his compartment, and, after waiting there a second, flew across to the other. What remained for him but to fly to a third corner and then to a fourth? That was all he could do, in spite of the size of the downs, the width of the sky, the far-off smoke of houses, and the romantic voice, now and then, of a steamer out at sea. What he could do he did. Watching him, it seemed as if a fibre, very thin but pure, of the enormous energy of the world had been thrust into his frail and diminutive body. As often as he crossed the pane, I could fancy that a thread of vital light became visible. He was little or nothing but life.
Yet, because he was so small, and so simple a form of the energy that was rolling in at the open window and driving its way through so many narrow and intricate corridors in my own brain and in those of other human beings, there was something marvellous as well as pathetic about him. It was as if someone had taken a tiny bead of pure life and decking it as lightly as possible with down and feathers, had set it dancing and zig-zagging to show us the true nature of life. Thus displayed one could not get over the strangeness of it. One is apt to forget all about life, seeing it humped and bossed and garnished and cumbered so that it has to move with the greatest circumspection and dignity. Again, the thought of all that life might have been had he been born in any other shape caused one to view his simple activities with a kind of pity.
After a time, tired by his dancing apparently, he settled on the window ledge in the sun, and, the queer spectacle being at an end, I forgot about him. Then, looking up, my eye was caught by him. He was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so stiff or so awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of the window-pane; and when he tried to fly across it he failed. Being intent on other matters I watched these futile attempts for a time without thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume his flight, as one waits for a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its failure. After perhaps a seventh attempt he slipped from the wooden ledge and fell, fluttering his wings, on to his back on the window sill. The helplessness of his attitude roused me. It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly. But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death. I laid the pencil down again.
The legs agitated themselves once more. I looked as if for the enemy against which he struggled. I looked out of doors. What had happened there? Presumably it was midday, and work in the fields had stopped. Stillness and quiet had replaced the previous animation. The birds had taken themselves off to feed in the brooks. The horses stood still. Yet the power was there all the same, massed outside indifferent, impersonal, not attending to anything in particular. Somehow it was opposed to the little hay-coloured moth. It was useless to try to do anything. One could only watch the extraordinary efforts made by those tiny legs against an oncoming doom which could, had it chosen, have submerged an entire city, not merely a city, but masses of human beings; nothing, I knew, had any chance against death. Nevertheless after a pause of exhaustion the legs fluttered again. It was superb this last protest, and so frantic that he succeeded at last in righting himself. One's sympathies, of course, were all on the side of life. Also, when there was nobody to care or to know, this gigantic effort on the part of an insignificant little moth, against a power of such magnitude, to retain what no one else valued or desired to keep, moved one strangely. Again, somehow, one saw life, a pure bead. I lifted the pencil again, useless though I knew it to be. But even as I did so, the unmistakable tokens of death showed themselves. The body relaxed, and instantly grew stiff. The struggle was over. The insignificant little creature now knew death. As I looked at the dead moth, this minute wayside triumph of so great a force over so mean an antagonist filled me with wonder. Just as life had been strange a few minutes before, so death was now as strange. The moth having righted himself now lay most decently and uncomplainingly composed. O yes, he seemed to say, death is stronger than I am."

Powers of earthly plot still carry much strength

( for Guy Fawkes)

Remember, Remember,the Fifth of November
Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators,
religious fundamentalists of their age
who on this day tried to carry out their deadly plot,
because of passionate indignation
a message that still chimes with us us today.

Political corruption, in parliament
and backrooms woven with thickets of greed,
however I've never been to keen on bombs
currently I'm planting bulbs for springtime,
to allow  freedoms petals to explode and inspire
waiting for winds of change to blow, energies to invoke,
that can help reveal truth's essence 
beyond ignorant and irrational threads.

Down here below among bedrock of tears
we can still make those above tremble,
planting seeds of dissent and rebellion
putting right to wrongs, with the strength of conviction,
against the arrogance of those who cling on to political power
like nature we can grow wild and defiant,
with deliberation, courage, and fortitude
if we keep pushing, their days in control might crumble,
our powers of earthly plot, still carry much strength.

 the above poen can also now be found here too :- https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/powers-of-earthly-plot-still-carry-much-strength-by-dave-rendle/

This spirit moves me greatly.

(some spontaneity released earlier after visiting the above light in hospital, the reason I guess this blog exists. She has encouraged it throughout its journey, so these are some words to this guiding inspiration.)

I’m not frightened of the dark, but of the morning when my eyes awaken, the uncertainty of a loved ones paths , I ignore the critics of my poetical meanderings, who try to dim our illumination, I carry on, and every night I try to light a candle, a gift of communication, beating deep within my heart, for a love that has guided me gently, taught me how to be, showing me resilience that carries no fear, epitomising all the strength, magic and beauty that is contained in this bitter world, carried me with affection, through days of confusion, like a mountain of thought , her mind will forever be free and alive, this mighty force will never fade, this darling’s smile will be carried within me, for ever more, and if she had time now to read these words, her eyes would light up,because she will know how her great spirit moves me greatly and she knows how much I like to be moved, long before prayers have ever been intoned, she wont blame me for writing, in tough times these are keys to my self healing. For within I possess this inner resolve. I guess it displays the deep convictions that I try to share every day from my heart.

Bono, a man, receives a top prize in this years Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year !!

Bono the preening rock star has been named as a recipient of  a top prize in an award in this years Glamour Women of the year award despite being male.Apart from the fact he ain't female,what has he ever actually done.? Yes he has campaigned against poverty and recently launched a campaign called 'poverty is sexist' with a commitment to worldwide gender equality, but many actual women have been fighting poverty and sexism for years and years without any form  recognition. Personally I think this Irish muso (and ubiquitous humanitarian-activist-environmentalist so called social justice warrior) should have simply declined, but then again he is just another celebrity who can't resist the limelight.Why couldn't he simply go back to writing letters to God and his billionaire mates
I kind of side with women left feeling  disappointed that an awards scheme set out to recognise the achievements of women in a world where they are often overlooked, was being extended to men. After all there are hundreds and thousands of women who are far more worthy of this recognition,but the world has gone crazy, and I simply, despair.With only 3.7 billion women in the world I suppose Glamour magazine couldn't find any female worthy enough for that final place on the list.What about the many women fighting around the world for women's rights.so many women  working hard in her community to break down barriers, fighting domestic violence to inspire young girls to be independent and confident. Saudi women challenging repressive laws.  Egyptian poets offering a critique of repression.  South Americans challenging femicide. In the UK Maryam Namazie only challenges patriarchy every day. Abda Khan merely wrote a searing novel, 'Stained' about oppressive patriarchy, sexual violence and the use of 'honour' to silence women in Asian communities.Then there are the  women in politics regularly subjected to death threats and violence,women daily helping refugees struggling with their lives, women human rights defenders around the globe  acting as role models working to advance human rights for us all in the face of escalating risks, threats, and harassment. and courageous women like Nadia Murad and Lamiya Ashir Bashir, recently honored with top EU humanitarian award http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharovprize/en/home/the-prize.html. The list is simply endless.
At least Glamour magazine had the tenacity to recognise the accomplishments of some of them, who as women were all equally deserving including the five-time Olympic medal winner Simone Biles, the three founders of the Black Lives Matter movement and Nadia Murad, who was nominated for the Nobel peace prize after escaping enslavement by Isis.But their honor pales into insignificance because all the world is bloody talking about is Bono and this silly magazine that has now been reaped with all this oxygen of publicity, generated by their rather silly stunt.. 
Achievements in gender equality should be applauded and recognised but to give an award to a man  in a ceremony for women in my humble opinion is simply wrong and misguided,and is a mockery to all women across the globe and puts the clock back years.Surely even Bono himself can't fail to see the irony in all this, and  that by giving him an award at an event like this, even for trying to undo partriarchy undercuts the whole point of this award ceremony.Oh but the times are a changing. Really!!! Because after all another rich privileged white man really needs the recognition.,

Palestinians demand Britain Government must apologise for the Balfour Declaration

                                                        Lord Balfour
 
Palestinian activists have launched a campaign calling on the British government to apologise for the Balfour Declaration which pledged a homeland for the Jewish people in historic Palestine nearly a century ago as long as the rights of existing non-Jewish communities were not prejudiced.The Balfour Declaration was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild, head of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland,  which had no basis of legal authority, where the indigenous Palestinians at the time of Balfour's letter amounted to 90% of the total population which paved the way for the occupation of their land.

At a launch event at the House of Parliament last Tuesday, Palestinian groups and their supporters blamed the plight of the Palestinian people on the legacy of the pledge and wider British colonialism in the region.If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the British parliament will have to consider debating the subject.
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Jenny Tonge hosted the launch at the House of Lords last Tuesday, where the plight of the Palestinian people was blamed on the legacy of the Balfour Declaration and wider British colonialism in the region.The activists, backed by the Palestinian diplomatic mission in the UK, intend to push the British government in the run-up to the document’s centennial in November 2017.
Today actually marks the 99th anniversary of the cursed Balfour promise or Balfour Declaration, by means of which those who had no ownership (Britain) permitted those who had no right to establish a national homeland on an established country Palestine. Lord Balfour bought about a promise that marked  the confiscation of the Palestinians homeland with displacement of its people. I personally believe it is time that my rulers  apologise  about this historical injustice which Britain committed against the Palestinian people.
The nakba/catastrophe of 1948, when over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled was set in motion by imperialist agreements in World War 1 to carve up the Middle East in their own interests.The Palestinian conflict does not begin in 1948 but in 1917, with this  declaration. It is necessary that we go back to this crucial watershed in the history of the Middle East and the roots of the continuing betrayal of the Palestinian people.As a result Palestinians were evicted from their ancestral  homeland to be expelled to refugee camps, to live in exile across the globe, to this present day.The continuing seperation of the people of the West Bank and the open prison that is Gaza. And ever since Palestinians have endured ongoing violation of their basic human rights.Now, over 11 million Palestinians continue to suffer from Britain’s colonial legacy in Palestine. 
Because of the broken promise, Britain can be given the blame for setting the stage for the conflict that exists today.As we  approaching the 100th anniversary of this grave injustice, in the current moment the continuing gravity of the situation in Palestine cannot be overstated.Britain must accept its  full responsibility in  creating a situation  which has left a legacy of deceit, injustice and oppression.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also called on the UK to apologize for the Balfour Declaration while in New York last week :- “We ask Great Britain, as we approach 100 years since this infamous declaration, to draw the necessary lessons and to bear its historic, legal, political, material and moral responsibility for the consequences of this declaration, including an apology to the Palestinian people for the catastrophes, misery and injustice this declaration created and to act to rectify these disasters and remedy its consequences, including by the recognition of the state of Palestine,” Abbas told UN delegates.
I  acknowledge that Balfour was not unique in history in giving what he did not own to those that were not entitled to it. It is time for the  British Government to apologise for the Balfour declaration, as this historic betrayal is still being felt and British politicians and companies continue to support the forces of colonisation..It is the least that they can do, but giving the fact that they have recently rejected another gross injustice, when agents of the state ran amok at Orgreave in the 1984 miners strike, I feel it sadly to be a bit of a long shot.But I like many others across the globe together with the Palestinian people will not give up hope. It is surely  time for the British Government to say sorry for what has bought untold misery through nearly a century of conflict, ethnic cleansing, ongoing human rights abuse, brutal occupation and apartheid.It has a responsibility and duty and  to redress the pain and suffering of individual Palestinians that has  endured ever since.