Potentially we are all refugees

Imagine if we let the thick of neck, knuckle dragging, beer bellied, spotty, low IQ, shouty white blokes take over. Think about that. Think it couldn’t happen? Think again. The Brexit vote happened because filthy rich white blokes exploited the intellectually challenged members of society. Those simple souls who can only think in black and white. The filthy rich could take back even more control! Think!

If that were ever to happen what would you do?

Under fascism no one is safe. Not even the fascists. Fascism rules through fear. Fear breeds distrust. Distrust creates purges. People, yes real human beings, are vapourised. A knock on the door in the dead of night, a scuffle, and you are spirited away. Your name erased from history. Think!

Imagine this happening, then imagine having to get out of your house as quickly as possible and fleeing in fear of your life. What would you take with you? What of your most prized possessions would you love into your single solitary suitcase? This is the dilemma that hundreds of thousands have to face each year. Your life in a suitcase.Think!

What would I take? I really couldn't say. A change or two of clothes I guess. But what else? Important financial records/papers perhaps, a small momento or two, relevant medication, travel kettle, iPod and perhaps a travel radio might fit in two. I guess it would also be useful to take small things of high monetary value like jewellery. Things that could be sold to raise some cash. Have I forgotten anything? Probably. Think!

What would you pack in a solitary suitcase? Could you cope with that? You'd have to. It would be cope or die. Think about that!

Being a refugee as far as I can see is no fun. You don't upsticks just because you fancy a change of scenery. Refugees are people. People fleeing persecution. Put yourself in their shoes; you've escaped persecution or death, wouldn't you hope to be welcomed when you reach a safe haven? What if there were no safe havens? Where would you go if you needed to?

We all have a responsibility to help refugees.

Think!

Welcome

#compassion

Friends lovers mothers fathers sisters brothers daughters sons grandparents cousins nieces nephews aunts uncles wives husbands just because we are victims of geography doesn't make us different. We are all human we are all connected we all bleed. To be civilised is to be compassionate to be civilised is to offer our brethren shelter from the storm to be civilised is to welcome.

on a wall in Amsterdam

Walk a mile in my shoes!

None of us are perfect.
We all make mistakes.
I know I've made loads, and will continue to do so.

I try never to be judgemental, although I'm sure I don't always succeed on that front; not to be confused with the joshing in some of my tweets I might add!

I think this applies to all of us:

What is the point?

No society can call itself civilised whilst it has poverty in its ranks. We in the UK are not a civilised society. Most of the population seem to tacitly accept poverty, if it is not happening to them. Presumably it is on the grounds of ‘I’m alright Jack’. What is wrong with us? Have we been so ground down that we no longer have the will to fight it? Is it just mass stupidity? Have the capitalists so brainwashed Ms, Mrs and Mr Average that they are incapable of questioning the immorality of the regime we live under? How do we get the message across that it doesn’t have to be like this? How do we get the message across that not only is financial equality desirable on moral and humanitarian grounds but it actually makes a whole heap of sense on purely a financial basis as far as the vast majority of the population is concerned?

Young and old, urban and rural dwellers alike are suffering terrible hardship, and collectively we do nothing, apart from turn a blind eye.

I’m not sure I can answer any of the above questions. Some days my faith in ever building a fair and just society is seriously challenged. I despair at the Great British public and the fuckwhats that they have become.

What is the point?

Norwich Pride

A text arrived yesterday asking us if we would like to attend Norwich Pride. Yes we thought. Might be nice to see, and to offer (hopefully not in a patronising way) our support to the LGBT community of Norwich. So we agreed to meet our friends, a gay couple, in Chapplefield Gardens. When we arrived there was a throng of interesting sights and assorted people:

I’m no lover of dogs but I did think this one was terminally cute:



When the allotted time for the procession to start we realised that we were expected to join in. Not a problem for me and my lady but I think we were just a little surprised as we assumed that to take part one had to be lesbian, gay, bi or transsexual. Clearly not. It would seem that whilst as a community they are discriminated against and abused in varying degrees they are welcoming and inclusive. The world could learn a lot from them.

As we passed through the Haymarket there were a small band of bigoted religious funny-mentalists who for some bizarre and inexplicable reason seem to object to the LGBT community. The old geezer brandishing a cross, and with hate and fear in his eyes, was a very sad sight to behold. I feel sorry for people like that, and I’m not sure of the wisdom of some in the procession who goaded this small dishevelled bunch of socially inadequate proselytisers, but then I’ve not suffered too much prejudice in my life so perhaps I’m not qualified to comment.

As we neared the end of the march, the finishing point being the Forum it occurred to me that there are so many minority groups in this country that suffer inequality and injustice to one extent or another that surely they/we could make up some kind of progressive majority. It’s thirsty work marching so on arriving at the Forum we headed straight for Cafe Marzano for a well deserved libation or three. Not very dedicated as we were unable to see or hear the speakers but very sociable. Peter Tatchell was there mingling, and for all we knew he had spoken to the gathering. All in all it was a good afternoon out. It'll be bigger and better next year I suspect.

At the Forum I purchased a copy of a local anarchist magazine Now & Never, which I was disappointed to discover had an editor. Not sure that’s very anarchist! It wasn’t a particularly good read in my opinion, and absolutely no mention of the Anarchist Rule Book.

Everybody must get stoned!

There are a couple of lines in Moving On by the Oysterband that go:

“We asked the man for justice

Well, he handed us a stone”

Last week’s stoning by the Taliban was rightly condemned for the barbaric act that it was (although it raises so many other questions and comparisons) but we in ‘the west’ don’t really have grounds to criticise when we are guilty of acts of collective barbarism ourselves. I am appalled by the posturing, whining and intolerant belligerence (is that partial tautology?) on the part of the lynch mob that is the voice of the American Establishment. Their continued howls for the head of Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi are quite sickening. If ‘the west’ wants to criticise the behaviour of the rest of the world then we need to put our own house in order first. If we are to prove to the rest of the world that ‘our values’ are the best then they need to be so in reality. The Lockerbie bombing was a cowardly and evil act and we may never know if it was committed by al-Megrahi or not, but in many ways the issue of his guilt is irrelevant. We are also not to know at the moment if there were murky dealings regarding his release, and again in many ways this is not the issue. If we take what the Scottish executive and the doctor concerned are telling us at face value then what they have done in releasing al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds was the right, honourable and compassionate thing to do. Compassion should be always be one of the USPs of any civilised society. If we are to place ourselves on the moral high ground we need to act according to those morals. Something the loud-mouthed pseudo-Christian American establishment right-wingers should adopt. ‘Tit for tat’/’eye for an eye’ actions just perpetuate the downward spiral of the retribution cycle.

The white American Christian establishment right (WACERs) need to answer the following questions honestly:

• In the case of al-Megrahi what would have been the Christian response to him being diagnosed with terminal cancer?
• Why do they think Lockerbie and for that matter 11/9 happened?
• When are they going to stop supporting injustice?

As an atheist I accept that everyone has a right to follow the religion of their choosing but I despise anyone who hollowly wears a religion as a badge and uses it to oppress others.

Fascists

You do wonder if the heart and soul has been ripped out of this country of ours when you hear about the likes of Ama Sumani’s plight.

Regardless of the rights or wrongs of our immigration laws, for the state to sentence someone to death is totally and utterly wrong. Ama is a 39 year old Ghanaian woman who had lived here for a number of years. She is terminally ill, and was effectively taken from her hospital bed and expelled from the UK. The immigration service claimed that she would be able to obtain the necessary treatment in her home country. It appears not to be true because she can’t afford to pay for that treatment. Why does it have to be so cruel and so despicable?