Kill the artist, kill the protest

The education system has been hijacked, for centuries it has been based around the industrial revolution focusing on the key subjects of maths, English and science.

Do not get me wrong, I believe there is a place for these in our education system, mathematics for example is the only true universal language we have as the schematics and designs by someone on one side of the planet could be replicated by someone on the other side of the planet and it does of course dovetail nicely with science. Aside from the obvious question of whether our schools are teaching our children what to think, rather than how to think, the issue arises where we have to sacrifice the creative elements of our education system in favour of the stuff that our peers deem to be "the important stuff."

Are you listening Michael Gove?

Naturally this means the arts get dropped to squeeze in another technology based course but this mode of thinking does not take in to account that we are a society made up of individuals and it is this very thing that gives us the varied life we have. I remember having to choose a subject I had no interest or intention of pursing in the future ahead of another that today I could have done with the background knowledge of.

This has not stopped me pursuing it later in life but how many children do we cast aside in their formative years, who may never get the time or money to pursue a dream later on?

Sir Ken Robinson, a champion of education in all its varieties, has made two speeches at the TED Talks, one in 2006 I believe and another in May 2013, where he explained how as a society we are stifling creativity in our children. This is not a problem just of the education system but unfortunately of us as parents too. How many times have any of us heard or been told that we will never be musicians, or to concentrate on school because being a successful artist is for the 'lucky' ones?

We should be embracing not only our children's creative endeavours but remembering our own, we are all born artists but we have it educated out of us.

There is a belief amongst some that the reasoning for creativity being educated out of us is that if you can kill the artist, you can kill the protest.

Bill Hicks came up with the notion first in 1989 during his Sane Man tour when he compared the Coca-Cola pop groups, such as Debbie Gibson and Rick Astley, to Jimi Hendrix. More recently the Artist Taxi Driver and I talked of the boy band explosion of the 1990's, with Take That versus The Prodigy at the time who were everything the establishment hated, epitomised by the release of firestarter in 1997 and then came Simon Cowell.

Since the turn of the millennium, Simon Cowell and his manufactured pop groups have dominated the music scene with real artists very far and few between, a protest campaign was launched in 2009 to get Rage Against the Machine to number one to stop the annual Cowell Christmas number one domination highlighted the issue quite starkly, with a song that has been out of the charts for a decade taking top spot just to say no, we won't do what you tell us.

Hendrix - Woodstock

Artists are out there such as Lowkey, Logic MC and Akala, but they are not allowed to make the mainstream impact the likes of John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Public Enemy and so on used to. The establishment will not allow it. One such advocate was Michael Franti but he fell foul of the Obama deception and has not been the same since.







Rap music has been hijacked, there was a time when it was about the system, violence and oppression, now it is all about money, girls and cars; sung by millionaires complaining they are from the ghetto, presumably because being a millionaire is not enough, they want to be billionaires. Even urban street art is being hijacked as the Germans look set to use graffiti artists as the reason for the deployment of drones on their streets.

Akala

The world has gone mad and the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

Terence McKenna once said we are lead by the least amongst us, the least intelligent, the least noble and the least visionary, when asked how we fight back he said we make art. So that is the task we have, to remember the artist within us and go out and express ourselves however we do it best.


“The artist’s task is to save the soul of mankind; and anything less is a dithering while Rome burns. If artists cannot find the way, then the way cannot be found.” ~ Terence McKenna

Anonymity, a fine and a demotion. You couldn't make it up.

I recently wrote that two people do not represent an entire religion, by the same token three soldiers do not represent an entire army.

However, this week the British Army held a court martial over allegations of child abuse and racial discrimination in Afghanistan by three soldiers at a check point. The striking thing is the lack of upset from the public in response to these incidents. At a time when Operation Yewtree is in the papers most weeks with every man, woman and their dog coming out to "persecute old men" as one barrister put it, there has largely been no such response to this. 

The punishment for these soldiers has amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist with one soldier fined £1000 for asking a child to touch his special place and another has been reduced in rank. The judge advocate had said that there was no sexual motive behind the behaviour, yet if that happened in any place in the UK there would be outrage and he would have been put on the sex offenders list. A third officer, the man in charge of these soldiers was cleared as not being in the public interests to pursue him in the light of the guilty pleas from the others. 

I am not sure what to think any more. Are we saying after this that it is OK to abuse brown boys but not white ones? The message set by the judge in this case seems to be that the lives of the people in Afghanistan are worth less than those in the UK and though the actions of these three do not represent the entire British Army, it does raise the question of how these fellow humans are viewed in the theatre of war. Perhaps people have not been upset by this because the media have not told them to be.

In another twist the three soldiers have been given anonymity under the reason of safety and security for them and their families, what about the safety and security of the families trying to rebuild their lives in the ashes of Afghanistan and Iraq under the haze of depleted uranium?

If we want to end the war on terror then first we must stop waging a war of terror.

Newell News-round up, week 10.

You could not make it up. Week after week the 'you couldn't make it up' files get ever more outlandish.

Privatisation 
The art of stealing tax payers money and lining their economic terrorist mates pockets. Darling David Cameron and jolly George Osborne, not content with secret courts, now want to privatise them. What? Something that seems to be lost on this bunch of blood thirsty, soul sucking vampires is that these public services are there to provide its citizens with a service, they are not there to make money and profit for their private profiteers mates.

If this was not bad enough private firms will soon be sending astronauts into space, giving us the Coca-Cola moon.


Human Rights
The former head of MI5, Stella Rimington, has said we should be spying on our neighbours to assist domestic security if we "did not want a stazi state" because the enemy is everywhere. I am not sure what books she has read or where she went to school but is that not exactly the sort of thing that the Nazi's did in the 1930's? This sort of fear mongering and hate inducement is scandalous, we are living in a time where our liberties are being taken away from us in broad daylight and they are trying every underhanded way of justifying it.

Economics
Mervyn King stands down as head of the Bank of England (home of the banking terrorists and daddy's pig) and says he is taking a gap year. Nice that he can afford to sun himself whilst the rest of the pensioners have to go back to work to help themselves out of fuel poverty. He has also come out and said that he thought people in the UK had a right to be angry with banks following the economic crises, but that we would have come out and been angrier sooner. Strange he should wait till he stands down to question why we have not taken to the streets sooner but we agree with him. First you have to get mad and it just seems like far too many people are worried about what J-Lo was wearing on Britain's Got Talent.

The economic forecast is still unsure whilst people are still trying to convince us that we have turned the corner. Even a cursory glance at the local high street and you can see that the recessions is really a depression.
Globally the outlook is just as uncertain. Growth forecasts in the US are being revised down and even India has recorded its slowest growth rate for a decade.

Picture by Positive Money.

Health and Welfare
The media campaign to demonise the NHS continues apace with the 'revelation' regarding bed blockers at a hospital in Oxfordshire and a surgeon spoke to the Daily Telegraph explaining how the problems in A&E are resulting in the cancellation of operations. NHS figures show that operation cancellations have doubled under the coalition government since 2010 but when taken in context with the millions of operations undertaken across the country it equates to just 0.9% cancelled in total.

Iain Duncan-Smith, the £39 breakfast man who says we can live on £53 a week has announced that he can afford to have a further £3bn cut from his department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in a bid to protect the police and military budgets. A disgusting claim and boast from a hideous individual. We spend billions on illegal wars and arming Syrian rebels and now this man wants to further cut the assistance to people in need to perpetuate war, mistrust and hatred.
This is being backed up by other departments such as from the Ministry for Justice and Department for Local Government, the latter for which have just had the Ken Knight Review into the Fire Service  who made bold claims about how much could be cut from the sector, without giving any background or context to the debate whatsoever.

The government have been in the papers also this week for degrading back to work assessments for former soldiers who are being stripped of their benefits as a result, by the government SS torture group ATOS. Sent out to fight illegal wars, damaged sometimes physically and mentally and then thrown on the scrap heap by the very people that sent them out there. The very reason why charities like Help for Heroes exist in the first place.

The magic of stem cells looms on the horizon again as doctors seem to have found a way to regrow bones and damaged cartilage. I shall be awaiting my appointment with baited breath.

Technology
The technology world is going stark raving mad. After last weeks announcement of the drone army being used by the German Rail company to chase graffiti artists, Motorola have crossed the line of the absurd by creating a solution to all those passwords we have to remember in the digital age. It is called the electronic tattoo. Not content with that step towards Rfid chipping they have also come up with a pill we can all swallow that is powered by stomach acids that can supply our gadgets with the codes we need to log in.

In other news the US have eased restrictions on the Iranians for the purposes of buying the iPhone. How nice of them. This comes at a time when the Iranian sanctions are having a dramatic affect on the price of domestic goods and purchasing power of its people, due to the devaluing of the rial (Iran's currency) The export of pistachio nuts are affected by this but at least they can use the iPhone.
You could not make it up.

World
The people of Turkey have taken back to the streets once again raising the importance of the occupy movement. The reason for the mass mobilisation has been in response to the Turkish governments insistence on developing a park near Taksim Square. The people have likened it to the Mayors of New York or London announcing the demolition of Central or Hyde Park for a few flats. Anyone who knows of Boris Johnson knows that this is not much of a reach for his buffoonery.
1,700 people plus have been arrested by the authorities once again highlighting how the state have hijacked the police to protect them from us, when they should be there to protect us from the state.


The Chinese have been flexing their muscles over the disputed islands in the South China sea, claiming that the islands there have been part of their territory since ancient times. This is an argument they fail to recognise when discussing Tibet as once upon a history the Chinese Emperor had to give a princess to the Tibetan Lord such was their strength and power and the region in the 17th Century, throwing into question their belief that it was always 'their territory'. In the end what do any one of us ever really own?

William Hague was on the radio this week explaining how we comply with International law when talking about the Syrian arms embargo being lifted. I almost choked on my lemon water as he said it recalling the current illegal wars being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Renewable energy and the hate mail attacks

A quick flick through this week's Mail on Sunday was enough to almost push you over the edge.

The Daily Mail has for the last decade or so waged a one paper campaign against the green energy brigade. This week (and the umpteenth time this year) they have run stories on the great green con and ran a top 10 myths on the green energy fiasco as they are calling it. At one point they even had the audacity to raise concern at a government minister who received £250,000 from a green energy company, that went on subsequently to write a report for the government to promote renewable energy. Strange then they have not much to say about Tory think tank lobbyists getting work in downing St and advising our darling David Cameron on carving up the public services.

The global warming and climate debate had been moving backwards and forwards since the 1990's and the Kyoto agreement, the Guardian last year started to counter the Daily Mail claims and the Mail are claiming that humans are not responsible for global warming and climate change.

A documentary by rock star physicist Brian Cox on BBC's Horizon, 'Can we build a star?' discussed at great lengths the energy crises we face in the not so distant future and the problem we have with trying to accommodate a growing demand as the planets population continues to grow, using the current fossil fuel based mode of thinking. The Mail on Sunday this week despite using a double page spread to try and debunk the renewable energy supporters had a page dedicated in the business and finance section stating that oil consumption will double by 2020. It was a very confused edition of the hate rag.

The key to their arguments are claims that the world has not warmed up for 16 years, they do not mention so much the fact we have passed 400 ppm of carbon but then hardly anyone noticed and like I tell my work colleagues, climate and weather are like form and class in the sporting arena. One is temporary and the other is permanent. 

The Mail along with the majority of other mainstream media outlets are pushing support for shale gas and fracking. They are claiming it is cost neutral compared to fossil fuel mining and that the cost to the environment is negligible. They always claim this when they embark on a risky new venture and this is no exception. There are legitimate concerns on the process of hydraulic fracturing and we should be mindful of the reasons for why the government and the media machine are so keen to push for this ahead of clean renewable energy.

EU lift arms embargo on Syria but we operate within International law

This week William Hague lit the touch paper for the war in Syria by supporting lifting the arms embargo and ensuring the conflict will now escalate.

The situation in Syria has been raging on for over two years with clear battle lines seemingly being drawn between those in support of Assad and those who are backing the unknown entity that is the rebel force aligned against him. Russia are supplying surface to air missiles in an attempt to presumably dissuade intervention from the west and Iran are supplying experts and money. The west has a history of arming the opposition of a force they want disposed of and the lifting of the arms embargo by the EU this week will give them the green light to do so 'legitimately', despite having been doing so in any event. William Hague said on BBC R4 this week when pressed about arming the rebels that we "Always operate within International law." That is of course if you fail to take into context the illegal wars being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan courtesy of war criminal Tony Blair. The UK's role in this is to perhaps soften the way in for an American intervention in the future as lap dogs in the special relationship.

The battle for Syria is a strategic one with Iran being the long term goal. Our governments do not care about the lives and deaths of brown people in the Middle East, this is a precursor to a war with Iran that we are being set up for. The coming weeks and months will see the media framing the agenda to manufacture our consent for these wars.

How we can afford to arm Syrian rebels at a time when our own government puppets are outlining cuts worth billions of pounds to health and welfare to fund our own military and police, is beyond comprehension. Then I remembered the saying that war is good for business and if this lot have their way then business will soon be booming.

Newell News-round up, week 9 *the not special Bank Holiday Special*

Bank Holiday special...there is nothing about this bank holiday that makes it special. This week has turned me inside out following the horrendous murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich and a little closer to home, another young life was snuffed out in the on going gang war in Luton.

I have already had my say about the Woolwich murder much to the disgust of some. The fact remains our foreign policy does contribute to the radicalisation of young men and women, as Theresa May explains it, whether she likes it or not. Clamping down on our freedoms and liberties with the 'snoopers chart' Communications Data Bill will not solve that I am sure. Theresa May and Co will however slither and connive to convince us that if you have nothing to hide or are doing nothing wrong then you have no reason to worry or oppose it. That is how the Nazi's gained power.

Whatever people think of the events in Woolwich this week, murder is murder and is abhorrent whatever the underlying cause.

Luton has this year witnessed upwards of 18 incidents involving firearms and blades resulting in serious and fatal injuries. Just last night the news reported of the fatal stabbing of a 'man aged 20 years old'.
At 20 he was not a man, he was only just starting out on his journey in life and will leave behind heart broken family who's lives will be forever changed.
A few weeks ago as the shooting incidents in Luton were soaring, I wrote to newly elected Police Crime Commissioner Olly Martins asking what he was doing to assist in dealing with the root causes of crime in society, namely the socio-economic environment in which we live in, but as yet have had no response. In the interim he has said of the escalation in gun crime and murders within Luton that it was "a blip", going to prove once again that we are lead by the least amongst us.

Somehow we have become a society that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, especially the value of a human life.


NEWS - Health and Welfare

The week started off quite badly with BBC R4 holding a phone in to discuss peoples experiences of A&E and ambulances, what disappointed most was the insistence on people across the NHS pointing the finger of blame at each other, rather than at the government and their banking friends, for the issues they are having. So long as we keep in fighting the power brokers will keep playing their game of monopoly and leave us with nothing but the scraps off of the table.

A woman who suffered a DOUBLE heart and lung transplant died 9 days after her benefits were stopped after ATOS found her fit to work. She was notified of her requirement to return to work as she lay on her hospital bed dying.
This lot are disgusting. People who are quite clearly in need of help and assistance are being thrown over board by this government under the ideology of austerity.

The constructive dismantling of the NHS seems to know no bounds and yet the resistance being offered by the public seems to be few and far between. It is the greatest thing we have ever conceived and yet we are allowing it go out without a fight.

There has been a staggering increase in volunteers for medical research and testing in recent times, which is all the more surprising considering the fact that virtually the entire medicine profession is one big medical trial and we are the guinea pigs.

You will not have seen much of it in the news and we were unable to make it to London on Saturday May 25th but there was a global march against Monsanto. A number of citizen journalists have covered it from across the planet, with the closest to a mainstream input being from Russia Today.

World

Barack Obama laid out the law on drones this week when he addressed the planet about the program but got heckled by someone from project Codepink. During his speech he highlighted the importance of ensuring that partner nations could not deal with the individuals they wanted to target before resorting to drones. What most news agencies failed to capture or show, including the BBC morning news, was his statement that civilian casualties were "hard facts". His words were not comforting. His words have damned him and his administration.

Human Rights/Politics

The Woolwich murder has seen the Communications and Data Bill rise its ugly head again with news reports that the Tory and Labour Ministers will form a pact to get the act passed as the Lib Dems seem to be opposing it, which is perhaps the only decent thing they have done since they took joint office. The evidence is inconclusive as to whether any such act being in force today would have made any difference to the incident last week in Woolwich, but then they will probably say that if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear. This statement is fine of course until it is something that you do care about, that you want to stand up for, and the establishment then labels you an extremist and you are starting down that slippery slope.
It was not helped by Theresa May banging the drums of fear quoting estimates of the number of people who are potential targets for radicalisation in the thousands and then claiming she wants tighter reigns on extremist websites, social media channels and the like.
What the definition of extremism will be is anyones guess.

Rupert Murdoch does not seem best pleased with darling David Cameron as the front page of the sun shows us today. Does this mean he no longer supports Cameron and would rather throw his eggs in Theresa May's basket? We shall wait and see but Tory Minister's are saying today that darling David has 12 months to sort the ship out.

Two sides of the terror crises and not one Iraqi or Afghan in sight.

Technology

Germany are to use drones to combat graffiti. Having been to Berlin I can say first hand that it is home to some of the most amazing urban art. This move to combat it is a surprise to me as it actually would be one reason I would advocate going to Berlin to see some of the art there. More worryingly it is the move by local enforcement agencies to engage in the use of drones increasingly, proving that a drone is not just for the Middle East, but for you and I.


There is no sport.

Entertainment? There is an exhibition at the British Library on Propaganda, check it out here.

We must not let seeds of hate divide us

This week a soldier was run over and attacked with machetes in a savage attack in Woolwich, London. The man, 25 year old, Lee Rigby leaves behind a son aged 2.

We have seen much of the events as they unfolded yesterday, images of a man holding blades covered in blood telling us that our "governments do not care about us" and that scenes like this occur everyday in their countries. BBC Political correspondent Nick Robinson described the assailants as "Muslim in appearance" causing outrage amongst sections of the community and also explained how his initial thoughts were of a terrorist act being carried out.

What we have witnessed since this senseless murder is the framing of events by the media and the establishment. Time and again over the past 24hrs the media have stated intelligence agencies have been concerned for some time that this was the type of attack they feared most, but were unable or unprepared to deal with and so prompting the push for a further curtailing of our liberties with renewed vigour for the Data and Communications Bill.

This attack has led to further framing of agenda by the media.

What makes this attack one of terrorism and the ones of say the woman who was beheaded in Spain, or the Muslim grandfather Mohammed Saleem who was stabbed to death on his door step not terrorism? Why is it that one is of terrorism and the others are either plain murder or racially motivated? The dictionary definition describes terrorism as the pursuit of political gain through the unauthorised use of violence and intimidation. In London since 2005 there have apparently been over 100 teenagers killed at the hands of a blade, going to prove that there is a culture of fear and terror on the streets but it is not necessarily the one the media is fixing for you now.

The narrative being used to reinforce and remind us that Muslim's are terrorists is strong and has been since 9/11, but this was not always the case.

For twenty five years or more the Irish were the symbol for terrorism and terrorists in the UK, a fact that winds up many a passenger at transport hubs such as airports when they complain during random stop and searches. A favourite quip would be "Do I look like a terrorist?" 

Yesterday's events took a terrible toll on all involved and the consequences of the actions of those two individuals could have far reaching affects for this country as a whole if we let it. Those who witnessed it first hand will have had their worlds turned upside down for what could be years. A comment from one of the attackers was that violence such as that occurs on their streets every day. In Afghanistan and Iraq that is true and it is hard time for us all to sit and take stock of what acts of terrorism we have been complicit in as a country.

In December 2011 a British soldier was jailed for stabbing a 10 year old Afghanistan child with a bayonet. Wikileaks and the Guardian published news of further atrocities conducted by the British armed forces whilst serving in the wars and just this evening Barack Obama concluded that sometimes civilians get killed in the drone wars and called it a "hard fact." In fact at a Senate hearing a Senator stated that there had been several thousand people killed during these unmanned bombing raids that are coming to be known as The Drone Wars. The blog Scriptonite Daily has some startling statistics on the drone wars and the number of civilians killed by the Nobel Peace Prize winning President Barack Obama.

The people in these countries have no voice. They have no media run states framing the agenda to play out their heartache for us to see or hear. There has been a river of tears shed in the Afghanistan and Iraq over the lies fed to us by Tony Blair and George W. Bush.
Martin Luther King Jnr once said that the greatest purveyors of violence were his own government (of the Vietnam war) and so the sins of the past return to haunt us, as the same is true of our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. To think we are innocent of the bloodshed is to be naive and live in denial. Bush, Blair, Cameron and Obama have as much blood on their hands as the man who addressed the stunned onlookers in Woolwich this week.

So long as our governments keep exporting fear and terror through the barrel of a gun or a drone we will not be able to claim peace. Has anything they have done in the 'war against terror' done anything to make the world feel like a safer place? If anything it has become a war of terror.

This terror is fed on fear and we have plenty of that going around at the moment. The EDL descended on Woolwich intent on having a riot and claiming that this attack was an example of the reason they existed. They fought with police, the leader, Stephen Lennon has a record for it too and they have a lot to say about Muslim grooming gangs, but nothing of the celebrity sex scandal engulfing television with Rolf Harris, Jimmy Saville and Co being outed every week. They prey on people and this time is the turn of the already traumatised people of Woolwich with a brand of patriotism that has previously been discredited by Sandra Oh from Grey's Anatomy, reading Emma Goldman's speech.

The fear being induced by the media, security services and our governments insistence in exporting war, is compounded by a lack of understanding. Facebook and Twitter have been awash with people Muslim bashing, black bashing and calling for a wide range of barbaric tortures themselves to punish those responsible for the soldiers death. Is this really the world they want for their children? Violence begets violence and Martin Luther King said that darkness cannot drive out darkness and that only light can do that. Even on my own social media feeds I have had to field some of the worst, fascist rhetoric regarding what has happened as people's emotions have run high.

Things doing the rounds on the social media sites include some of the following;

Questions have been posed as to the human rights of those that took part in the attack. Fortunately for us all human rights are there for the needs of the many and the actions of a few should not lead to the acts that serve and protect us being torn up for something lesser.

On the question of 7/7 and the lack of compensation for the victims going about their day job that are flying around the social media sites, who's fault is that? The governments, not Muslims.

The solider was apparently wearing a Help for Heroes T-Shirt and now every one is being encouraged to buy and support them. Why do we have a Help for Heroes Charity in the first place? Because the government does not provide for the men and women it sends out there to get blown up fighting illegal wars. Who's fault? The government.



Before condemning an entire religion we must look to take everything that happens in some kind of context and for all those labelling all Muslim's as extremists, attacking Mosques and calling for action remember this, just as not every Muslim is an extremist, neither were all Catholics, nor did all Christians want to gas Jews or wear white hoods and drag black people along the tarmac behind their trucks but some people from all of these religions have done just these very things. It does not make the religions evil, if there is such a thing, it means that a minority of individuals should not be responsible for the condemnation of an entire group. For anyone calling for those hangings, beheadings and mob justice should take a moment to look in the mirror and ask yourself if what you are asking for will do anything to make the world a better, safer place for you and your children?

No problems but human problems - one species

The only way for us to break free of these cycles of hatred is to first stop participating in them.

We must start to view ourselves as one species, the human species with common problems and not separate races. We must learn to understand the truth behind the language we use and realise we are masters of it and not slaves to it and begin to create our own reality, one that is crafted from love and not fear and hate, free from all forms of terror.

What cannot be taken away from what has happened this week and what overrides the entirety of the wider debate is the future of the young boy left behind without a father and the prospect of growing up in a world escalating ever more in hatred, mistrust and fear, a world that we have a duty to change for the better for us all.