Revolution

Hey Edgar - thanks for that. He wrote some meaningful poetry I hear. But after the way the press has treated him and his family - i doubt we'll get to hear any of it for some time.

I enjoyed this write up on the press reaction by the Scottish Sunday Herald
http://www.sundayherald.com/oped/opinion/display.var.2068665.0.february_is_the_cruellest_month_for_celebrity_baiting.php




I know you did, Olga. I had my head screwed on around the wrong way back then - so i missed out on doing the right thing - but thanks - for trying to stop hell from happening

Peace (you never know :wink: )

Endy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVHUibFexSw

Harry Belafonte

sincerely Edgar - thanks for posting up the link
I've been feeling like my head might explode at any given time

- Harry Belafonte has released a tiny bit of the pressure

5th Year Anniversary



I've done all I can
to try and break free
but I don't know who I am now
…….can somebody help me?
The things I thought were right and just
have turned against me
And those that I believed in most
have deserted me

Every day,
I hear the fools chip, chipping away
Each tiny piece of unseen grief
manmade
And the many souls
whose hearts have paid
remain unheard
Voiceless, without words

And all this I see beyond the cage
of my immediate existence
I try to look the other way
but I have no resistance
to truth's cruel persistence

You see, it's right here
Right in front of my face
(and I will not deny it)
I see war against another race
and I don't buy it

I don't know who I am anymore
nothing's familiar
There's a strangers face
I've never seen before
when I look in the mirror

What the hell am I fighting for
or ever hope to achieve?
Why share the words of conscience
weighing heavily on me?

I swore an oath in good principle
It's that simple
Don't you see?
I'm not advocating violence
But
I think there could be treachery in silence




Endymion 2008


************************************************************************

Join the global protests - demonstrate 15 March
Assemble 12 noon, Trafalgar Square, London
Assemble 11.30, Blythswood Square, Glasgow.

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

Former SAS officer gagged for exposing Government lies on rendition

I wrote about Ben Griffin, a former member of the UK Special Forces (UKSF) Special Air Services (SAS), shortly after hearing him speak about his reasons for refusing orders in Iraq. (It's back there somewhere at the start of this thread - which i never thought would still be going after all this time).

It was a few dark years ago now. He looked stressed but in shape back then.
Now days, with his fuzzy beard and a few extra pounds, he looks like a man who's borne a few sleepless nights. But don't let that deceive you.
As a famous Sarge once said…. "Look into my eye."

This statement was prepared and read by Ben, at a press conference on Monday 25 February 2008.
http://www.stopwar.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=533&Itemid=27

As a result an injunction was granted on 28 February 2008 by the High Court of England and Wales to prevent him from making any further disclosures.

Here is Ben's Reply to the injunction

"As of 1940hrs 29/02/08 I have been placed under an injunction preventing me from speaking publicly and publishing material gained as a result of my service in UKSF (SAS).

I will be continuing to collect evidence and opinion on British Involvement in extraordinary rendition, torture, secret detentions, extra judicial detention, use of evidence gained through torture, breaches of the Geneva Conventions, breaches of International Law and failure to abide by our obligations as per UN Convention Against Torture. I am carrying on regardless."

Video of latest

Amnesty International's Senior Adviser, Anne FitzGerald, said:

'Rather than seeking to silence people who might have credible evidence of alleged human rights violations, which may include war crimes, the UK authorities should be seeking to investigate those allegations.'

'There can be no accountability without transparency: people - including former soldiers - who have information that may constitute evidence of war crimes or of grave human rights violations must be reassured that they can safely make that information public, without fear of punitive legal action against them."

Last week Amnesty International repeated its call for such an investigation into the UK's alleged involvement in the US-led programme of renditions and secret detention, following official confirmation, after years of denial, that rendition flights did indeed touch down in the UK territory of Diego Garcia.


meanwhile…

Iraq invasion a 'breach of duty'

Tony Blair's government breached its duty to service personnel by failing to ensure the invasion of Iraq was lawful and justified, Law Lords have heard.

Beverley Clarke and Rose Gentle, the parents of two dead soldiers, are attempting to secure a public inquiry into British armed involvement in Iraq.

The mothers say soldiers have the right not to have their lives put at risk in illegal conflicts.

A committee of nine Law Lords is hearing their appeal.

The parents are demanding to know why in the space of 10 days some 13 pages of "equivocal" advice from the then Attorney General Lord Goldsmith on 7 March 2003, became one page of unequivocal advice that an invasion would be legal.

The respondents to the appeal are Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Defence Secretary Des Browne and current Attorney General Baroness Scotland.




************************************************************

In the United States



U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are planning to descend on Washington from Mar. 13-16 to testify about war crimes they committed or personally witnessed in those countries.

Statement From IVAW

"From March 13-16th, U.S. veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will testify to what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground in these occupations. To provide a preview, we've created this short film. The film features three members who will be testifying at Winter Soldier and includes videos and photographs of Iraq from their deployments. This video contains graphic content. We need your support to help make Winter Soldier a success."

Find out more about Winter Soldier


Warrior Writers Project(US)

We shall (not) overcome... Nuclear protest survived six Tory governments. But not New Labour


Fifty years after historic march, protest camp at atomic weapons base is outlawed in a new blow to civil liberties

By Kim Sengupta
Saturday, 8 March 2008

It survived six Tory governments, the end of the Cold War and the rise and fall of mass marches against the British nuclear deterrent. But after 50 years in which the tradition of peaceful demonstration has been maintained outside the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, the New Labour era has finally done for one of the most famous symbols of protest in British political history.

Today would have seen the latest gathering of the band of women who have assembled on the second Saturday of each month since the 1980s to object to the continuing development of the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent. Instead, following a High Court ruling this week, the protest tents are being removed, demonstrators are being threatened with arrest and "no camping" signs are being erected.

From being a symbol of the right to protest, Aldermaston has become the latest testament to the desire of successive New Labour governments to curtail the right to assemble, demonstrate and object to government policy.

Evidence from the Ministry of Defence to the High Court cited "operational and security concerns". In their High Court appeal, legal representatives for the Aldermaston women argued that the by-law which ostensibly took effect last May banning "camping in tents, caravans, trees or otherwise" amounted to an unlawful interference with freedom of expression and the right of assembly guaranteed by articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. David Plevsky, appearing for the Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp, said the new regulations were "criminalising the peaceful, traditional and regular activities of the AWPC".

It cut no ice. Before the ruling, Sian Jones a member of the peace camp, said: "If we don't win this review our very existence will be under threat. But there are also wider implications for the long-held right to protest, which is such an important part of British society. Aldermaston has been known as a place of protest for the last 50 years, and this year is the 50th anniversary of the first CND march there." That battle has now been lost.

As a result of the heavy-handed prohibition of a long-running series of protests which have never resulted in violence, a march this Easter to Aldermaston - intended to commemorate the pioneering protest of 1958 - has now taken on a wholly contemporary significance. After a series of assaults on the right to protest around Westminster and beyond, the 2008 trek through Berkshire is set to become the latest chapter in the fight to wrest back civil liberties that New Labour appears determined to take away.

The CND is planning a 50th anniversary day of action on Easter Monday, when the atomic weapons establishment is to be surrounded by a "human chain" to highlight what it says is the stifling of legitimate protest. The police have warned that anyone causing an obstruction during that protest is likely to be arrested and prosecuted.

Kate Hudson, the chairperson of CND said: "We feel this is an extremely serious matter where the long-established and hard-won right to protest is now under attack. People are extremely worried about the weapons of mass destruction being produced at Aldermaston and it is unrealistic of the Government to think that they will not take part in expressing their views. "We hope that on Easter Monday people will not only come because it is the 50th anniversary of the first march but also to show the need to defend their civil liberties."

One campaigner planning to take part, 57-year-old Margaret Jefferson, from west London, said: "I think it is essential that people make a stand on this issue. I had stayed at that peace camp as have so many others without posing any threat to anyone. What is this Government afraid of, what do they think we will do?

"We live in a very dangerous world as it is and with the end of the Cold War there is even less justification for nuclear weapons. As long as these weapons are here there is the risk that a version of them will come into the hands of terrorists."

One of the most famous figures to participate in 1958 is too frail to be there on Easter Monday. But there is no questioning his ongoing commitment to the protest and outrage at the modern Labour Party's complicity in its suppression.

Michael Foot, the former Labour leader, who marched with his late wife, the actress and author Jill Craigie, said last night that he was "deeply saddened" to hear of the camp being closed down, and especially dismayed that this should happen under a Labour government.

"We thought the cause was right and just and we were glad to take part in these marches," Mr Foot said. "I think it is wretched that they are now thinking of shutting down the camp after it had been goingsuccessfully for more than 20 years and I am sure Jill would have felt the same way as well.

"The governments at the time sometimes behaved very badly towards these protesters who were simply exercising their rights in a peaceful way. But these were Tory governments, the Labour Party supported them as I recall, I was the leader at the time. But times seem to have changed."

************************************************************

Comments

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/openhouse/2008/03/have-your-say-a.html#comments

The comment below is typical of those expressed by the public today

Posted by: warren | Saturday, 08 March 2008 at 03:36 PM

My father, sisters and brothers were on the first Aldermaston march. Mum was at home with a baby. Mum's parents were active in the Shipbuilders union, the Fabian society and the Suffragettes. During the war dad was dodging bombs in Malta, Mum worked on gunsights and as a crane operator on the docks. My RAF uncle received the OBE for work on the Blue Streak in Australia, from which he also got stomach cancer. Immediately Post-war my parents lived in Europe and saw the after effects of war.
This is not a family of ignorant, narchist activists, but a family with a history of commitment tied to the Labour party. the Aldermaston march is a cornerstone of demonstration of civil liberties, which the Labour party represented. I guess this is just another sign that the Labour Party should be renamed the Labor Party. So if I go and hold hands with others in memory of my families commitment to the socialist movement, I risk being arrested and imprisoned by that same party? My parents must be turning in their graves.

************************************************************

CND



The bomb stops here: Surround the base at Aldermaston

We invite you to participate in a lively demonstration against the development of nuclear weapons at Aldermaston and to celebrate 50 years of anti-nuclear protest in Britain. This Easter marks the 50th anniversary of the first march to the Atomic Weapons Establishment Aldermaston - the heart of Britain's nuclear weapons programme.

We need you - and your friends, colleagues, communities, and networks - to surround the base and create a colourful, effective, and massive demonstration. Easter Monday, 24th March 2008, at 12 noon.

http://www.cnduk.org/aldermaston/



Kate Hudson, the chairman of CND, with its vice-president, Walter Wolfgang, outside the nuclear base at Aldermaston

On March 15th - i'll be in Trafalgar Square at noon
Iraq - 5 years on - unbelievable
There are many reasons I'll be marching - here's one of them






I know Your Pain





The death of such a woman
is not an easy thing to bare
She is the joyful half
of your energy
A reason for existing
You know your strength
can defy
all odds for her
But alas
While you still breathe
in and out…
… for her this world
is finished
blotted out
Forever she is gone
and all the things
you should have said
must be forgotten
She is never
going to whisper
your name
ever again
And even though
you were not there
you feel to blame
Because you couldn't protect her
Couldn't save her from the pain
Could not defend her






Endymion 2008








Iraq. Photograph by Associated Press Photographer Bilal Hussein, imprisoned by the US Military without charge (sep 2006)

Clegg calls for 'a new political system' in UKI guess the man has to start somewhere. Good luck to him. Beats marching through the streets to try and get your point across

This is so touching.....
I really really love it!....(and wish that everyone knew the pain.....)

Someone i cared for very much died in a British hospital under the best of care and without pain or distress. If she had been gunned down in the street or blown to pieces by a bomb, i know that i would have to be a better man than i am now to survive what that would do to me.

Iraqis, Afghanis, Lebanese, Somalians, Israelis, Pakistanis, Sudanese, Palestinians, Americans, Koreans, Russians, Brits, Chinese... and on and on...

Why are we all living our lives in fear?
I just don't get it.

Life is too short, d'you know what i mean? If you love someone, then love them while you can. You should be free to love them in your lifetime together - but war gets in the way of life.

What the hell is war for? Empire? Weapons manufacturers? What? And why? Who knows and who f*cking cares why anymore? We're in a whirlpool we can't get out of. War is so much to so many.

For example, did you know that at least sixty-four percent of Israeli citizens want their government to hold direct talks with the Hamas government in Gaza? * (actually i heard 70% on BBC radio just recently)

But what the people want and need and what they get .....
well, you know the rest.

********************************************************

Hey Naima

peace (when ever we want it, eh?)


*Reference http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/958473.html

Disillusioned

Martina Navratilova has regained Czech nationality more than 30 years after fleeing a Communist regime she now compares favourably to that of her adopted country America under President George Bush.

Nice One Steel - i had a laugh

Mark Steel: Let's be modern and swear an oath to the monarchy


Wednesday, 12 March 2008

When Tony Blair and Gordon Brown launched the idea of New Labour, it was as a crusade to be modern. A typical speech would go: "Mister chairman, brothers and sisters, modern modern modern modern modern. New Britain new modern modern. Modern modern modern, thank you," (23 minute standing ovation).

And they ended up so modern they gave the job of reviewing British citizenship to Lord Goldsmith, who's concluded everyone should undergo a ceremony in which they pledge an oath of allegiance to the Queen. This is so advanced the rest of Europe only abandoned it 200 years ago. So there are probably other bits of his report, not yet published, which go: "Loyal British citizenship will be enhanced by dismantling the system of local government, and replacing it with a network of barons. A sense of modern national unity will be advanced if citizens, who shall also be known as 'serfs', kneel before them on the third Sunday of each month and offer them their wives as chattel. This measure, I feel, should bring about a rapid decrease in the practice of city centre binge-drinking."

One of the questions in the British Citizenship test asks what you should do in the event of someone spilling your drink in the pub. So from now on the correct answer will be: "Challenge them to a duel."

Teenagers, he's said, should have to "graduate" into true British citizens, to show they've encompassed Britishness. So maybe the boys will have lessons in subjects such as being sexually attracted to Helen Mirren. And teachers will say: "We're very lucky today because Mrs Mirren has kindly agreed to sit at the front of the class for us so off you go. Come on Jenkins, start tingling boy, and Walcott, let's have a bit of drooling shall we, this is a national treasure, surely the odd slobber isn't too much to ask."

And girls will graduate if they've got a letter about what's annoying them published in The Daily Telegraph, such as: "Dear sir: It has come to my attention that the 'boys' who frequent Club 99 at the rear of the disused cinema in Swindon old town have, of late, appeared unrelentingly minging. One fears this is indicative of a general decline, like so much else these days, and makes one yearn for back in the day in like 2004, and that when they was like well fit. Yours sincerely."

The reason anyone who tries to define "Britishness" gets in a muddle must be because there's hardly anything that unites everyone who's British. And while there are behavioural traits that are typically British, you can hardly insist all immigrants have to adopt them to be considered a citizen. Otherwise you'll have citizenship lessons in which an instructor shows an England football match to a group of Somalians and says slowly "Now all together - 'Lam-pard and Gerr-ard, they can't play together - it's OBVIOUS.' Follow that with a deep sigh, then a muttered 'hopeless'. Well done, you'll soon be ready to go to a packed pub on the night of a qualifying match for your field work." Or you could have a question that asks: "Name five situations in which it would be suitable to stare blankly and mutter the phrase '******* Ada'."

Even if you can locate Britishness, it's constantly changing. If someone studied for a citizenship test by reading a pamphlet on Britishness from 30 years ago they'd be stuffed, because they'd answer the question: "Name four things that make people feel proudly British", with: "The Black and White Minstrels, Gary Glitter, a mouthful of dripping and the smell of asbestos in schools," and get themselves instantly deported.

The other tangle we get in is when we wonder why we can't be like Americans, who have no qualms making pledges to their country. But their pledge is to a set of ideas on which the country was founded, most of which evoked the rights of citizens and were fought for in opposition to the monarchy we're still being asked to subject ourselves to. So even most liberals feel comfortable with it, sensing they're signing up to the ideas of the founding fathers, and a flag that was carried in a war against slavery, and that recent presidents have betrayed those ideals.

Whereas we're asked to say something like: "We are truly grateful to live in a land where we are all judged on our efforts, and our actions as good citizens. And for this we give boundless praise to our almighty gracious glorious radiant majesty that she may bestow upon us these rights, oo she's marvellous, 82 and never stops, we are truly the most odious rancid sewage compared to thee."

Anyway, the thing is we just don't do oaths and pledges of allegiance because they're not British. And anyone who says otherwise should be told they've failed the test, don't understand our culture and have to go and live somewhere else.

System of a Down's Serj Tankian Sings of Hope and Utter Despair (interview)

I missed that. This nation has changed dramatically with his tenure in the White House.

We've been dealing with our own Nightmare on Downing St, here in Britain, believe me.

People talk about the growing crime rates - but the sorry truth is this:

Tony Blair's government created more than 3,000 new criminal offences during its nine-year tenure, one for almost every day it was in power.
- Then they wonder why our prisons are over-full with petty offenders - (d'you think they even have a brain?)

(From The Independent)

"Remarkably, Labour is creating offences at twice the rate of the previous Tory administration. During its last nine years in office, under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, fewer than 500 new crimes reached the statute book via primary legislation.

The 3,000-plus offences have been driven on to the statute book by an administration that has faced repeated charges of meddling in the everyday lives of citizens, from restricting freedom of speech to planning to issue identity cards to all adults."

Now they're talking about making civilians swear oaths of allegiance to the Queen????

Are they f*cking crazy?

How can a government be so out of touch with the people?

Just glad i've never once voted Labour in my life. They are a disgrace to their founders and they should be taken to court by everyone who did vote for them.

For Misrepresentation

I wonder how many offenses it would be possible to manufacture? Sooner or later, they've got to run out of housing and food.

Bravo Edgar

(You song-writer you)

More from Robert Thomson's site (Musician and collaborator of the arts)

there's always the 'Ghetto' to fall back on

the Nazis gave it a test drive in Poland - seemed to work for them

the latest model - 'Gaza Ghetto' is proving 'productive' (if death and misery and hopelessness are your motive)

Theses days it's concrete walls instead of wire - but hell, that just proves we are evolving as a species - learning as we go, like. Application. Jesus, at this rate we'll soon have all those 'undesirables' sealed off - so we won't even have to think about 'em. Wow - what we can achieve. Unbelievable. We don't even have to gas 'em - we can just starve 'em to death.
My God, how far have we come? We MUST be THE most INTELLIGENT species on the f cking planet! Our leaders are geniuses!

"As we move from wire to concrete in our on-going efforts to bring democracy to the uncivilized, we take a moment to reflect on the lives of our brave ghetto guards who have to stand out in the sun all day - risking their skins. We pledge to fully equip them - and free suntan lotions will be distributed amongst them, in the hope that in some small way, we shall relieve their great and righteous responsibility. God Bless em' and God Bless the inventor of concrete (and the sniper rifle of course)."





Revenge 2 ~ (Fade Out)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn

Draw your knife
and stick it to 'em

Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn

Strike a match
and set it to 'em

Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn

Round 'em up
and black'n'blue 'em

Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn

Fence 'em off
and f cking do 'em

Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn

Burn their bones
There's nothing to 'em

Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn

Drop the bomb
See it unglue 'em

Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn

Burn half the world
Yeah! fu ckin' screw em'

Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn

Consume mankind
(You never knew 'em)

Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn

Yeah watch 'em
Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn
Yeah watch 'em
Burn

(Fade Out)


NB - The above post should be classed as 'humour' although of course i wasn't laughing when i wrote it.



"A joke is a serious thing."

Winston Churchill


Come to think of it - i wasn't joking either.
It's happening

i've decided that when it comes to writing - there's nothing like a bit of personal angst to make you brave.

anger helps

Release The Pressure


"I've got to stand and fight
in this creation
Vanity I know, can't guide I along
I'm searching to find
a love that lasts long time
I've just got to find
Peace and unity"



Leftfield - From the album 'Leftism'

(The best ever)