Friday 31 August 2012

Protest against ATOS



Castle Street in Cardiff was shut down for a short while a couple of days ago to allow for the concerned peaceful protestors to mark their commemoration to those who  have died as a consequence of the lack of care and duty of the government appointed department ATOS that are a not-fit-for-purpose organisation who's motive is profit and not care.
Meanwhile today thousands demand RESPECT and Quality of life.
Disability rights campaigners have ended a week of protests outside the central London headquarters of ATOS . They have for some wierd reason been one of the main sponsors of the Paralympic Games.
It is ATOS's tests for people on disability allowance, that  have led to peoples suicides, and is daily adding damage and distress to peoples lives.
Protestors gathered in London, and have been taking direct action against what is being called the Atos Games. Atos is benefitting from peoples misery, and are making a tidy profit too, people should be put first.
There contract is worth £110 million a year, but the appeals alone cost the taxpayer another £60 miilon. The impact of wrongly being declared fit to work can be enormous.
Increasingly people are realising that ATOS are not fit for purpose, but the government keeps giving them their backing.In the first 8 months of last year , 1,100 people  have died of their illnesses soon after being found fit for work by ATOS. No regard for peoples feelings, but their that type of government.....complete heartless basrards actually.
People are refusing to be ghettoised and silenced, and are declaring enough is enough. If the Paralympics has managed people to see how this government is treating it's most vulnerable citizens, then that is a good thing.
I keep banging on about this issue, because it's an issue that is close to my heart. People matter, and untill ATOS are removed we will keep bannging and shouting. The fact that ATOS has been sponsoring the Paralympics is a sick joke gone to far.


Comedian Jeremy Hardy at ATOS protest


ATOS protest outside the DWP today






Thursday 30 August 2012

UNITED BY LOVE - DIVIDED BY THERESA MAY


In a globalised world, you might expect to see a rise in the number of cross border couples. But one person (backed by the Whole Government) stands to stop international love for many ordinary people.
Indeed Theresa May, the Home Secretary wants to make it harder for British citizens and those settling in the U.K to bring their spouses, civil partners and indeed other family members to the U.K. Join the campaign to stop a flagrant abuse of human rights
http://www.jcwi.org.uk/




Tuesday 28 August 2012

No Justice for Rachel Corrie



The death of  pro-palestinian activist Rachel Corrie was a "regrettable accident" for which the state of Israel was not responsible, a judge has ruled, dismissing a civil lawsuit brought by the family.
According to Judge Oded Gershon of Haifa Court she had " put herself in a dangerous situation" whilst dressed in a bright orange jacket and acting as a human shield, when she was crushed under the weight of an Israeli miltary bulldozer while trying to obstruct the demolition of a Palestinian home in Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border.



Israel to all intents and pupose has declared itself not guilty of Rachel Corrie's murder. The world I think sees things differently.
The home Rachel Corrie died trying to protect was razed, along with hundreds of others. She was murdered whilst protesting against home demolitions and injustice in Gaza. This court has now given its stamp of approval to the flawed and illegal practices of the Israeli military. The verdict has failed to hold the Israeli military accountable for continuing violation of human rights. It is a shocking day for human rights, but a verdict that I am not too surprised about. Again and again Israel acts with impunity, carrying on regardless in an arrogant violent manner. There is no justice when their courts show such contempt, for justice's meaning,
there is no justice too, when the Gaza strip remains a sealed ghetto,there is no justice when countless Palestinian families are made homeless, there houses destroyed, where is the  justice for them or  their friends  after the death of their loved ones.
By disregarding international law and granting Israeli war criminals impunity, the verdict exemplifies that Israel's legal system cannot be trusted to administer justice according to international standards.
The fight and struggle will continue, the end result being that we get truthful answers and yes JUSTICE...... the world will not stay silent, and I will remember Rachel Corrie , who courageously died whilst living her dreams, staying human, amd showing solidarity with her beloved friends, the Palestinians.
This will not be last time we hear her name. The memories of her death will not fade, nor that of the death of thousands of Palestinians. Israel have stated their objectives, they are participating in a war, and in there war, there is no such thing as civilians casualties. At least 6,444 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli occupation since 2000, so  we carrying on fighting for their Justice too as well as Rachel's.

Two earlier posts on Rachel Corrie here
Rachel Corrie - The Courage to Resist
http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/rachel-corrie-1676-16303-courage-to.html

Rachel Corrie- Palestine mark's activists death
http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/rachel-corrie-palestine-marks-activists_7931.html

Rachel said 2 days before she was killed
"I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive. Its horrifying'.

This  is still the situation today,  despite the condemnations internationally, Israel  believes it can get away with murder...... the  world is watching and  the world says no.   




Thursday 23 August 2012

Sacco and Vancetti we remember you.



In this set of clips, Americans are shown how to spot Communists. For example . " If a person reads and advocates the views expressed in a Communist publication, he may be a Communist. If a person defends the activities of Communist nations while consistently attacking the domestic and foreign policies of the United States, she may  be a Communist!!! The video also goes on to demonstrate the evils of Communists stealing one's daughters away to work on a collective farm.
Joking aside it was not just Communists the Americans were afraid of, they garnered a lot hatred for other things too. On this day in 1927, Ferdinando Sacco and Bartholomew Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants living in Boston, were executed after being framed in a robbery. The alleged robbery  had taken place some time before in 1920, in Massachusetts, and their subseguent trial and execution was surrounded in conntrovery.Their real crime was that they were anarchists, involved with the vibrant anti-capitalist  movement  that was popular at the time. That too scared the shit out of the American establishment, voices that threaten their authority still do. So here's to Sacco and Vancetti's rebel spirit rattling through time. We never forget, never forgive. RIP comrades

" Oh martyr!
Dead, dead! You are dead
But your human tree and your human root
Are budding
Blooming
Growing!

Listen to the war cries of your living brothers!
This is the incense we are burning to you."

from Sacco Vancetti - H.T. Tsaing
Daily Worker August 20, 1928

Sacco and Vancetti - Ben Sahn


Song about Sacco and Vancetti - David Roviks and Woody Guthrie





Monday 20 August 2012

Remember Atos Kills





STOP THE WELFARE REFORM DEATH SCANDAL
Petition here

Speak out! Help us put an end to negative portrayal of sick & Disabled in the media.  

Sunday 19 August 2012

Julian Assange speaks from the Ecuadorian embassy




An amazing speech
will our government listen
are they so afraid of the power of communication.

Viva Julian Assange
Viva Free Speech
Viva Wikileaks
Viva Ecuador.....

The truth is out there




see also this from New International
Julian in his own words

George Szirtes (b.29/11/48) - Cultural Directives


As Michelangelo, the great Italian composer,
once remarked: Artists have responsibilities.
Hearing music is like contracting a disease,
a beautiful infection. It brings closer
the point of no return. One must be strong.
There's no such creature as a harmless song.

Painting too, as the English artist Shakespeare
pointed out, can be debilitating
unless you aspire beyond paint to real things.
A painting freezes movement. The eye, like the ear,
is a channel of impotence. Mere airs and graces
often induce an unproductive stasis.

And as for words, I only need quote Mozart,
the Swiss poet: They're tainted by unreason.
Language is discourse, words slippery. To seize one
we must lay traps, as for mice. The throat's part
of the respiratory tract, and you may clip
a speech, like air, by tightening your grip.

Too many of you are wasting your time and ours
with gewhaws, bric-a-brac and frolicking.
It's time to give you all a rollicking.
We're not impressed, I fear, by your endeavours.
The role of the past is to prepare the future
and your task is to welcome it with Culture

Reprinted from
Sing Freedom
Faber and Faber
in production with Amnesty International

Deprivation of Freedom of Expression - Paulo Zerbato