Tuesday 13 November 2012

What's the point of Police Commissioner Elections in Wales.

Sitting here all bunged up , wondering about the forthcoming elections for Police Commisioners. From what I have gathered the Conservative government seems to have made a right shambles of this.
Not sure of the reason, ah yes, the county police authorities made up of elected local authority members are being disbanded., so the Torys  want something else in place , whether we like it or not, their version of democracy, force something on us while we're not looking.They like changing things. But what they had not imagined is that most people are  are unaware an election is coming, there have been no leaflets through the door,or knocks, and most are totally unaware who is standing. And those that are aware of it , intend ignoring it completely.
After 2 years of Tory rule there are , 28,000 less workers employed in our police forces, than when they first started,  and they reckon they are the party of law and order, they just want to have another political quango, where all there mates can go and roost.
The aim of the Police Commisioner is to set the Police budget and policing precept, Commission Police related services within the force area, improve the accountability of the police to the public, (it seems they have their work cut out.) and engage with the public on policy decision. The public does not seem to be clamouring for this sort of change.
It is  reckoned too that only 15% of the 40 million adults outside of London eligible to vote will bother. In Wales itself the turnout is expected to be less than 10%. Not an amount to be considered a democratic mandate in my opinion. And a Police Commisioner could get a total of 5 % and still incredibly get elected.This is the process of sham democracy,that we are living under.
A second set of ballot papers in English and Welsh has added £350,000 to the bill, to what is already a high amount in times of austerity, an incredible barmy figure of around £75 miillion. But they've save a bit from not publishing individual  manifestos, in case we were interested in what some of the candidates have to say. The message here is, that unless your wealhty enough your message will not get out.
These elections are guaranteed at making  Policing political, (it always has been), and I am afraid the Police Commisioners will be left with far more political influence  than we realise..
As for the Tories enthusiasm for Commisioners, that worries me,  because their ideological bent, gives no two hoots  to local democracy or public involvement. The needs of society will still be ignored, so a new Police Commissioner will not make a blind bit of difference.The possibility of corruption and political elites forming too, is a distinct possibility,I do not think it will lead to greater Police accountability.  So personally we need to oppose it, so that this government does not think it can inflict policies on us, by the back door on  a  dishonourable democratic mandate.
So what  to do,  I humbly recommend, that if you have the urge and feel the need and want to behave like a good citizen,that  you should remember too, that all spoilt ballot papers have to be counted, so a simply writing a message on  your ballo paper of say A.C.A.B will do the trick, or perhaps that's a little to harsh and you could simply write nothing.
Or perhaps you dont want to engage in any of this Political football at all, these are  Police Commisioners who are only taking part  in the first place, because of a thirst for power.  Remember that there is no requirement for Police Commisioners to be experienced in policing - or in fact anything. It is also by the way, an American idea that might be O.K over there, but what works over there does not always work over here.
A tory policy that in the General Election , the people by a majority did not vote for. Yep I won't be voting.
It's all too much of a mess. I  wont be giving their election a sham endorsement. Thats how they keep us in control.





Monday 12 November 2012

TV = Mind Control



Using fear and the threat of insecurity to manipulate the people, corporate media, in bed with governnment, over the years having become the mouthpiece of government control, unleashes a barrage of propoganda, to arouse the population with a false sense of security that justifies miltary action. This way, debate is silenced and dissent is dissapeared on the airwawaves as once again the corporate media, the gatekeepers of infomation, allow us only to see and hear the point of view they want us to incorporate into our psyche. Voices of reason and of intelligence are ignored, banished from imparting thoughts of wisdom, thus making it virtually impossible for the population to ever know there are other options beside the horror of war.

With corporate anchors, journalists, reporters, commentators and executives pushing into our homes an exclusive pro-war, jingoist viewpoint, blitzkrieging us with their propoganda-laced images and opinion, over months of constant threats of fear and insecurity, denying the public from ever seeing or hearing fruits and realities, it therefore becomes rather easy, with a  population addicted to television viewing, to mobilise a nation for war. With the marriage of government and corporate power, truth dissapears just as much as falsly prospers. With both entities profiting from the spoils of war, it is in each other's best interests to work together to disseminate the seeds that will inarioubly spawn the rebirth of a dominant war culture.

It is designed to manipulate and control at once, transformeing the population into a sedentary  herd of sheeple who never question what is told them. Over the years millions of civilians have used this most dangerous drug to escape lives of frustration, unhappiness, deperation, depression and loneliness, never realising that with every hour they watch, with every show they are glued to, with every channel they surf their minds are turned to mush becomming conduits of ignorance, molded into muscles in deperate need of gossip and sensationism, no longer thinking for itself.

The Establishment has perfected its machination of propoganda, creating the realities it wants into society, forming whatever truth that will be of the greatest benefit, not to society, but to itself. Whatever reality it wants to create and disseminate is quickly absorbed by a population eager to feed of the mammary glands of television. The Establishment, the corporate world and government have for years told us how and what to think, how to act, who to obey and where to follow, condemning our minds to obedience, our lives to conformism and silent acquiescence.



It doesn't have to be like this though, change the media, change the people. There are many alternative media sources growing all around. Blogging for instance, facebook, yes twitter. Still not taken completely seriously, it is ostraciced and marginalised, but increasingly people are looking for new ways of seeing , and for spreading their messages of  social justice and ideas that they control themselves. Unfortuately the internet is not free yet either, with many forces out their attempting forms of censorship.I personally use rather too much of both. But what would happen if we all simultaneously turned of our  televisions, wow that would be amazing, We would become the news, make it, rather than be mere spectators, that are ignored daily anyway. Oh, what time is now on?

Disposable Heroes of Hypocricy - Television the Drug of the Nation.

Sunday 11 November 2012

Harriet Avery Gaul (1886-?) - The War Wife (a song)


,
lest we forget

American, writer, married commposer Harvey Bartlett Gaul . Authorof Five Nights at the Five Pines ( 1922),( Vamp till Ready, a Comedy of the Depression (1932), and with Ruby Eiseman, John Alfred Breashear, Scientist and Humanitarian, 1840-1920 (1940)

The War Wife (a song)

You left me lad with a heart of stone.
Where are you boy?
You march with flags while I stumble alone,
Where, where are you boy?

Will you ne'er come back through the long dead years.
Where are you boy?
The song of war is the sound of tearsm where, where are you boy?
Where are you boy?

My life grows dark with the redd'ning sun,
My day is nigh and my travail done.
Will you hear our child when the fight is won.
Where are you boy?

Reprinted from
My Country is the Whole World
An Anthology of Women's Work on Peace and War
Cambidge Women's Peace Collective
1984.



Friday 9 November 2012

Horizon (for Robert Chrysler 21/10/67 - 4/09/12)

I have been using social media and blogging since June 2009. Every so often I have made connections that greatly influence  my thoughts and my perceptions of certain realities, and how I view the world.
Robert Chrysler was one of these. He befriended me on facebook  back in April 2010, possibly because  he identified with someone who shared a poetic pulse, I can never be sure.I began to admire his posts immensely, his outsider edge and his obvious love of freedom, connecting the obvious, to the rather arcane with a strong surrealist bent. I never met him and it is not a long time to have had an acquaintance, but it was a connection I valued., 
'Robert Chrysler  He said of himself  '  is  an inspired subway ranter from Toronto, Canada. He enjoys challenging capitalist property, trying to figure out what the post structuralists are going on about, and dreams of someday living in a tree.'
I looked forward to hearing his voice....then recently notced that his daily facebook pages had drifted away. I looked at his profile 2 days ago and was shocked and deeply saddened to find he had suddenly passed away  on the 4th of October.
His thoughts always invigorating and stimulating, I discovered too how long this great man had spent on journeys of difficulty and hardship. There were battles with drugs and homelessness, yet he never seemed to have lost his sense of humour, and a thirst for something new, a hunger too for social justice.
A great intellect, who came along and inspired, so thanks Robert R.I.P, you have taken me places where it will take a lifetime to look.
Here are some links to his writings, that give an insight to his great mind.

http://www.fullofcrow.com/prate/2009/11/robert-chrysler/

http://www.ditchpoetry.com/robertchrysler.htm

http://balloonpoetry.blogspot.com.au/2009/08/3-poems-by-robert-chrysler.html

An interview with him here.

http://www.ditchpoetry.com/Robert%20Chrysler%20Interview.pdf

This is something I wrote the other night.

Horizon.

We follow echoes
and make connections,
follow paths back and forth
swaying slightly,listen to distant
                          lulling waves,
blossoms become dreams.
Outsider winds
gravitate through portal  windows,
urgent smiles fall out of
subterranean tunnels,
make contact, out of view
Our hungry reflections criss cross,
on journeys where we grow
planting seeds , tableaus of love
humming through the darkness,
when often the sky gets too bright
into the air voices drift,
call out in a world of international paths
we share things,bringing the outside in,
conjure magic,release waking steam
through chasms of anchorage,
we touch  the edge of horizons path
as our wings keep moving,
our reckless  fingers flutter
as we dive for breath,
beneath our dirty fingernails
and chaos bubbles,
releases the warmth of fiery flame,
in the end the sky closes in
but the river keeps on flowing.

Thursday 8 November 2012

John Cooper Clarke - The New Assassin




SKIP THE ROADBLOCK HERE SHE COMES

 GET A LOAD OF THE PRETTY BLUE GUN

ANY SLICK TRICK UNDER THE SUN

SHE'LL DO IT IF IT ISN'T DONE

SHE MADE ARRANGEMENTS SHE COULDN'T COME

SHE DRESSES LIKE A SECRETARY AND LIVES LIKE A NUN

YOUR CRIME IS THE RADIANT PASSION

IT'S TIME FOR THE NEW ASSASSIN


          COOL KILLER TOP OF THE CLASS
         
          THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SHATTERPROOF GLASS

          WORKS AS FAST AS THE CAMERAS FLASH

          WITH THE CYANIDE CIGARETTES AND THE CS GAS

          IT'S HER JOB - DOESN'T BAT AN EYELASH

          SHE'S WORKING FOR THE PERISHING MASS

          THE BREADLINE'S BACK IN FASHION

          IT'S TIME FOR THE NEW ASSASSIN


A MELODY PLAYED ON A HAND GRENADE

FROM THE RIFLE RANGE IN THE GREEN ARCADE

AS  THE RAIN  FELL DOWN ON THE BIG PARADE

 MESSED UP THE MOTORCADE - MUCKED UP THE MASQUERADE

SECRET WEAPONS BECOME DISPLAYED

 IN THE HANDS OF HALF A DOZEN AIDES

JUST FOUR MEN AND A COUPLE OF GAY BLADES

 SHANTUNG SUITS AND SHATTERPROOF SHADES

SHOOT UP ANYBODY WHO HAPPENS TO BE PASSING

EVERYBODY BUT THE NEW ASSASSIN


             ONE LINK IN THE HUMAN CHAIN
     
             IN THE CITY WHERE IT ALWAYS RAINS

             NO PROFIT OR PERSONAL GAIN

             ARE THE SILENT RULES IN A LONESOME GAME

             ONE FACE IN A PURPLE FRAME

             A BLACK BORDER ROUND THE NAME

             CHALK MARKS AROUND A BLOOD STAIN

             THIN BLUE LINE RED LIGHT FLASHING

             IT'S TIME FOR THE NEW ASSASSIN

             WHAT TIME DID YOU SEE IT HAPPEN

             IT'S TIME FOR THE NEW ASSASSIN 
           


From :-
Zip Style Method, 1982, ( a teifidancer essential  )                

                 

Wednesday 7 November 2012

95th Anniversary of the Bolshevilk Revolution


On this day1917 the Bolsheviks storm the Winter Palace.

" Not by compromise with the propertied classes, or with the other political leaders, not by concilating the old Government mechanism, did the Bolsheviks conquer the power. Nor by the organised violence of a small clique. If the masses all over Russia  had not been ready for insurrection it must have failed. The only reason for Bolshevik success lay in their accomplishing the vast and simple desires of the most profound strata of the people, calling them  to the work of tearing down and destroyng the old, and afterwards in the smoke of falling ruins, cooperating with them to erect the frame-work of the new"
- John Reed
10 days that shook the World
1922.


For a while , at least, another system seemed achievable.Unfortunately, rather than produce socialism, the Bolshevik Revolution gave birth to autocratic party dictatorship residing over a state Capitalist economy and gave rise to the horrors of the Stalinist system. Equality did not appear and many human rights were curtailed. But of course circumstances at the time also dictated, their were many external pressures, and counter revolutionary forces, these were tumultuos times. But for me,  the vision still lingers on, and   in the heart of many others the goal of  global revolution still achievable. Long has this time , had resonance for those of us  who think about freedom and the themes of social justce. So unless we learn from the lessons of history we are doomed to repeat them.
Emma Goldman noted that it was 'a tragic fact that all revolutions have sprung from the loins of war. Instead of translating the revolution into social gains the people have usually  been forced to defend themselves against warring parties.... It seems nothing great is born without pain and travail.'
from Vision on Fire, pages 218-222.

Celebration of the Bolshevik Revolution
on 95th anniversary of Red October
Song written by Woody Guthrie, sung by Billy Bragg


Russian Revolution 1917

The Communist Internationale ( original with English lyrics)

Down with all forms of tyranny, exploitation and oppression. Class war does exist. There simpy is a ruling class and a working class.


Glorious story of October 1917 Revolution
(Soviet Propoganda film)






95th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution

It is perhaps ironic that one day after the dismal election of 2012 we are celebrating the 95th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. There could hardly be a starker contrast. In one case, the working class is presented with a choice between two representatives of the bourgeoiie, each of which is pledged to continue the assault on living standards and democratic rights that have marked the decade since 9/11. As long as the two parties of the bourgeoisie continue to define political life, there is no future.
http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/2012/11/95th-anniversary-of-russian-revolution.html



' There are decades when nothing happens, and then
there are week when decades happen.'
- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin



Tuesday 6 November 2012

Support for disabled Protestor staging vigil and hunger strike outside Atos Offices in Cardiff.



A man stopped of his benefit after falling victim to the dreaded work capability Assesments has announced he will end his hunger strike outside the Cardiff offices of Atos Healthcare, however a week long vigil will continue.
Christos Palmer who has both mental and physical health problems , including depression, hopes the protest will highlight the suffering of disabled people caused by this cruel heartless government. ATOS is the controversial French company  that carries out the controversial work Capability Assessments on behalf of the government.It has been the subject of widespread condemnation from  disability charities and the British Medical Association has called for the assessments to be scrapped completely. The firm has been accused of target chasing for cutting the amount of people found eligible for benefits.Doin this, in a thirst for profit way. I know of people whose G.Ps valuable medical opinions have been simply tossed aside, because ATOS sure do not.
Christos's actions can only be commended, its cold and windy out their on the streets and deserves all the support that can be mustered. He represents all of us faced with this terrible situation. A company being used by this government to wage war against societies most vulnerable. Welfare is now being torn from those, who most deserve it.
He and his supporters have been gathering at St Agnes Road, Cardiff from 9a.m to 4.p.m , all this week until the 9th of November.
all are welcome to go and join them . Their is a facebook group too that you can go to and leave messages of support
.https://www.facebook.com/events/430345053681756/

A spokesperson from Disabled People Against Cuts in Cardiff http://www.dpac.uk.net/2012/11/disabled-protestor-to-stage-vigil-hunger-strike-outside-of-atos-offices-in-cardiff/  said,

" While we support the protest aims we are extremely concerned about Christos's physical and mental well being. He often suffersfrom extreme fatigue and is housebound on some days. That somebody so unwell has been driven to this shows the desperation that the sick and disabled are being driven to by this government. We are urging him to end his hunger strike."