I forgot, of course, to mention that today in 1919, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, were tortured and murdered by the ultra-nationalist paramilitary thugs.
Ruhe in Frieden Rosa und Karl.
Friday, 15 January 2010
A day for anniversaries
I notice from my almanac that today is littered with anniversaries some important and some not so.
Elizabeth is crowned Queen of England in 1559, and two hundred years later the British Museum opens.
No the two are not directly linked!
Molière, Proudhon, Nasser, and Ivor Cutler (!) all born today I got into the latter upon hearing the LP Life in a Scotch Sitting Room, Vol. 2 whilst at Uni.
However, it is two poets whom I want to celebrate Osip Mandelstam and Nâzım Hikmet, one Russian the other Turkish.
Both incredibly deep and powerful voices, both shut out and exiled, both much unappreciated outside their homelands.
Here's a couplet from Hikmet's Davet, which I think beautifully sums up current feelings about the banking sector and their ridiculously stratospheric bonuses.
Kapansın el kapıları, bir daha açılmasın,
yok edin insanın insana kulluğunu,
Shut the gates of plutocracy, don't let them open again,
annihilate man's servitude to man,
Elizabeth is crowned Queen of England in 1559, and two hundred years later the British Museum opens.
No the two are not directly linked!
Molière, Proudhon, Nasser, and Ivor Cutler (!) all born today I got into the latter upon hearing the LP Life in a Scotch Sitting Room, Vol. 2 whilst at Uni.
However, it is two poets whom I want to celebrate Osip Mandelstam and Nâzım Hikmet, one Russian the other Turkish.
Both incredibly deep and powerful voices, both shut out and exiled, both much unappreciated outside their homelands.
Here's a couplet from Hikmet's Davet, which I think beautifully sums up current feelings about the banking sector and their ridiculously stratospheric bonuses.
Kapansın el kapıları, bir daha açılmasın,
yok edin insanın insana kulluğunu,
Shut the gates of plutocracy, don't let them open again,
annihilate man's servitude to man,
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Today is the birthday of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., probably the singlemost influential American Black man of the 20th century.
Without the work that he did as leader of the struggle for Black emancipation in the 1950s and 60s, work carried on by people like Jesse Jackson, we would not have had the first Black President of the United States.
But Dr. King's influence, especially his espousal of non-violence (directly borrowed from Mahatma Gandhi), has a far greater resonance for all peoples everywhere.
One thing that is forgotten about him is that he championed the rights of poor white folk as well, which brings me neatly to what John Denham has had to say about race and class yesterday.
I have always argued that there is much much more that unites in this country than divides us, and that while there may be minor and superficial differences evident in colour and creed, nevertheless what unites us (a sense of fair play and natural justice, rooting for the underdog and standing up to oppression, a visceral dislike of privilege and a belief in meritocracy) is a far more powerful force to be harnessed for the general commonweal.
I can do no better than to quote some of my favourite bits from Dr. King's "I have a dream speech", delivered on 28 August 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.:
* I have a dream that my... children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.
* I have a dream that one day... the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
* We will... hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope... transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood... We will work together, pray together, struggle together, stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
* Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
* Let freedom ring... to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
Without the work that he did as leader of the struggle for Black emancipation in the 1950s and 60s, work carried on by people like Jesse Jackson, we would not have had the first Black President of the United States.
But Dr. King's influence, especially his espousal of non-violence (directly borrowed from Mahatma Gandhi), has a far greater resonance for all peoples everywhere.
One thing that is forgotten about him is that he championed the rights of poor white folk as well, which brings me neatly to what John Denham has had to say about race and class yesterday.
I have always argued that there is much much more that unites in this country than divides us, and that while there may be minor and superficial differences evident in colour and creed, nevertheless what unites us (a sense of fair play and natural justice, rooting for the underdog and standing up to oppression, a visceral dislike of privilege and a belief in meritocracy) is a far more powerful force to be harnessed for the general commonweal.
I can do no better than to quote some of my favourite bits from Dr. King's "I have a dream speech", delivered on 28 August 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.:
* I have a dream that my... children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.
* I have a dream that one day... the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
* We will... hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope... transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood... We will work together, pray together, struggle together, stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
* Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
* Let freedom ring... to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
Thursday, 14 January 2010
"First they came ..."
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me... and there was no one left to speak out.
Today is the birthday of Martin Pastor Niemöller who was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945 for his opposition to the Nazis' state control of the churches.
After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having done enough to help the victims of the Nazis.
In January 1946 he first uttered the poem above in a speech in Frankfurt, which I still think the most powerful argument for brotherliness/sisterliness in a world supposedly run on selfishness and the "I'm alright Jack" philosophy of conservatism.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me... and there was no one left to speak out.
Today is the birthday of Martin Pastor Niemöller who was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945 for his opposition to the Nazis' state control of the churches.
After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having done enough to help the victims of the Nazis.
In January 1946 he first uttered the poem above in a speech in Frankfurt, which I still think the most powerful argument for brotherliness/sisterliness in a world supposedly run on selfishness and the "I'm alright Jack" philosophy of conservatism.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Lib Dems and sexuality
There's an article in today's Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/clegg-lays-down-law-to-cameron-on-gay-rights-1866116.html) where Lib Dem No 1, Nick Clegg lays out his stall on gay rights, and bolsters his impeccable liberal credentials, unlike that fair-weather phoney David Cameron.
I'm proud to say that one of the main reasons I joined the Liberal party as was in the 1970s was its attitudes and policies towards personal politics and especially gay rights.
Just as heartening to hear my beloved leader backing so many of my postings on this blog over the past nine months.
* Change the law to allow gay men and women the same marital rights as straight couples? Check (June)
* Not trusting Cameron on "Section 28"? Check (August and October)
* Review Uganda's membership of the Commonwealth if they bring in the death penalty for practicing gays? Check (December, to be fair I asked for Uganda to be expelled)
Nick's proposal to force all schools, including faith schools, to implement anti-homophobia bullying policies and teach that homosexuality is "normal and harmless", is wonderfully sound and something that I have been advocating for years.
The Tories are light years behind and Labour far too timid.
I am proud to belong to a party that has such progressive policies on LGBT rights, and a leader unafraid to proclaim them.
It's good to know that my leader and I are singing from the same songsheet.
I'm proud to say that one of the main reasons I joined the Liberal party as was in the 1970s was its attitudes and policies towards personal politics and especially gay rights.
Just as heartening to hear my beloved leader backing so many of my postings on this blog over the past nine months.
* Change the law to allow gay men and women the same marital rights as straight couples? Check (June)
* Not trusting Cameron on "Section 28"? Check (August and October)
* Review Uganda's membership of the Commonwealth if they bring in the death penalty for practicing gays? Check (December, to be fair I asked for Uganda to be expelled)
Nick's proposal to force all schools, including faith schools, to implement anti-homophobia bullying policies and teach that homosexuality is "normal and harmless", is wonderfully sound and something that I have been advocating for years.
The Tories are light years behind and Labour far too timid.
I am proud to belong to a party that has such progressive policies on LGBT rights, and a leader unafraid to proclaim them.
It's good to know that my leader and I are singing from the same songsheet.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
What is courage?
I read with sadness of the death of Miep Gies who was the last surviving member of the group who helped protect Anne Frank from the Nazis.
She worked as a secretary in Otto Frank's company, and got to know the family well.
With her husband (Jan) and colleagues, Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, and Bep Voskuijl, Miep helped hide the Franks (Otto, Edith, Margot, and Anne) the van Pels (Hermann, Auguste, and Peter), as well as Fritz Pfeffer, for more than two years.
These eight people were hidden in a sealed-off annexe in the company's offices on Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam, for two years!
In theory, Miep and the others could have been shot for hiding Jews, nevertheless the quintet went ahead and showed that ordinary human decency can shine even in the darkest of times.
If you ever go to Amsterdam, it is well worth joining the more than a million visitors to the Ann Frank Huis (http://www.annefrank.org), and seeing for yourself the conditions that the octet had to put up with, and the cloying fear of discovery at any moment.
Mark Twain wrote that, "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear", how apt.
Mies was an ordinary women, who showed extraordinary courage.
Rust in vrede Mies.
She worked as a secretary in Otto Frank's company, and got to know the family well.
With her husband (Jan) and colleagues, Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, and Bep Voskuijl, Miep helped hide the Franks (Otto, Edith, Margot, and Anne) the van Pels (Hermann, Auguste, and Peter), as well as Fritz Pfeffer, for more than two years.
These eight people were hidden in a sealed-off annexe in the company's offices on Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam, for two years!
In theory, Miep and the others could have been shot for hiding Jews, nevertheless the quintet went ahead and showed that ordinary human decency can shine even in the darkest of times.
If you ever go to Amsterdam, it is well worth joining the more than a million visitors to the Ann Frank Huis (http://www.annefrank.org), and seeing for yourself the conditions that the octet had to put up with, and the cloying fear of discovery at any moment.
Mark Twain wrote that, "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear", how apt.
Mies was an ordinary women, who showed extraordinary courage.
Rust in vrede Mies.
Monday, 11 January 2010
Jennie Lee would be spinning in her grave
One of my many complaints about this Labour government and their dozen years in government has been their paucity of imagination, and general timidity in opposing vested interests.
One area in which that is most glaringly obvious is Tony Blair's oft-quoted maxim "education, education, and education". Whether it is in the primary, secondary, or tertiary sector.
Despite record spending, one-in-three schools are failing to provide pupils with a good education. Almost one-in-three 11-year-olds fail to reach basic standards in English and maths. More than half of all pupils fail to achieve 5 A*-C grades (inc. maths and English), and one-in-seven leaves school without a single C grade.
To quote our schools spokesperson David Laws who last year said, "These shocking figures reveal the true extent of Labour's failure in education... It is these young people, let down by Labour, who are now likely to be bearing the brunt of the recession".
In the tertiary sector, the introduction and maintenance of "top-up" fees despite the 2001 Labour manifesto promise of, "no plans to introduce University top-up fees", is counterproductive and not only saddles students with massive debts but disproportionately discriminates against those from poorer socio-economic classes.
All of which is ironic on the anniversary of the awards of the first degrees by the Open University in 1973.
The OU was (and remains) a truly remarkable organisation based on radical principles of bringing education to "the masses" following on in a direct line from the Mechanics Institutes, to the WEA, and night schools.
The OU was founded in 1969, inspired by the vision of Michael Young, under the aegis Jennie Lee, with the full co-operation of the BBC.
When the Tories were elected in 1970 they cut its budget having earlier called the whole idea "blithering nonsense".
Hmmm, sound familiar?
We Lib Dems are the only party that believes university education should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go there and not be put off by the cost.
One area in which that is most glaringly obvious is Tony Blair's oft-quoted maxim "education, education, and education". Whether it is in the primary, secondary, or tertiary sector.
Despite record spending, one-in-three schools are failing to provide pupils with a good education. Almost one-in-three 11-year-olds fail to reach basic standards in English and maths. More than half of all pupils fail to achieve 5 A*-C grades (inc. maths and English), and one-in-seven leaves school without a single C grade.
To quote our schools spokesperson David Laws who last year said, "These shocking figures reveal the true extent of Labour's failure in education... It is these young people, let down by Labour, who are now likely to be bearing the brunt of the recession".
In the tertiary sector, the introduction and maintenance of "top-up" fees despite the 2001 Labour manifesto promise of, "no plans to introduce University top-up fees", is counterproductive and not only saddles students with massive debts but disproportionately discriminates against those from poorer socio-economic classes.
All of which is ironic on the anniversary of the awards of the first degrees by the Open University in 1973.
The OU was (and remains) a truly remarkable organisation based on radical principles of bringing education to "the masses" following on in a direct line from the Mechanics Institutes, to the WEA, and night schools.
The OU was founded in 1969, inspired by the vision of Michael Young, under the aegis Jennie Lee, with the full co-operation of the BBC.
When the Tories were elected in 1970 they cut its budget having earlier called the whole idea "blithering nonsense".
Hmmm, sound familiar?
We Lib Dems are the only party that believes university education should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go there and not be put off by the cost.
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