Monthly Archives: September 2014

A special thank and a big shout out for all the marvelous Christians of Gaza…

A MUST READ!!
10686909_1504973536425049_163441479559987167_n

A special thank and a big shout out for all the marvelous Christians of Gaza…

We all know about the previous summer aggression on Gaza and how many Treacherous countries stood beside it, utterly and completely supporting it, financially and emotionally.. We all know also about the traumatic harrowing scenes that all saw through the media during the sudden circumstances of that brutality. And we all know as well about the very first crisis that happened with the people of the boarders, especially in the east ( Al-Shojaeya, Al-Zaitoon, Khoza`a and the boarders of Rafah) Most of those people evacuated their properties as quick as they could before facing the death. They went, with their innocence, to the schools of the UN which they sheltered in to protect their families from the madness of the enemies. And many of the refugees, especially in Al– Shojaeya and Al- Zaitoon, left their homes and suburbs and went to the churches of the Christians. Perhaps some of you would wonder and say that the writer of this piece is mad or silly in saying something all know, but the truth is that I must mention how great the people of Gaza are and let the world know who we are.

A week ago, I made a short conversation with one of the refugees, who lives in my area, about his days during the war.

-“How were you feeling when you left your home with your family?”I began the conversation,
-“Well, First of all we all have to pray to our God to bless our great precious martyrs and to pour from his glorified Mercy on them. Then we pray to God to put a quick healing on our brave injuries and to make their families patient, Ameen. When I heard the tragic bombs and when my eyes saw the flying mutilated bodies in the skies, I decided with my family to leave my dangerous home to escape from the real death. Actually, we left it and went to a UN school, but it really was not a good place to stay in especially when you have young daughters like me. The school really was so crowded as a hell. As a result, I decided to leave that school…”

-“Ohhh, so tragic, well, when did you go eventually?
-“After leaving the school, I searched and searched for another place to stay, but I failed and my feet got exhausted. Eventually and after hours, I found a church called the church of the Patriarch Provius. I did not care about it and even I was not thinking of entering it as I knew that that place just would be for praying and preaching not for staying and sheltering. My wife asked me to enter it, but I was so hesitant. I thought that the warden would refuse and reject us due to the religious goals of that church. Well, I entered it anyway after a while and then really got shocked of what I saw. There were refugees inside that church with their entire families. So I found someone not to feel alone. The owners of that church welcomed us so hardly as though we were their special guests”

-“Mashallah, and what happened then?”
-“Then they gave us a special place to stay in and six mattresses and three bottles of water. We used to get three meals per day. The basic services were really acceptable and no one of the refugees complaint about anything. The owners of that church really dealt with us as special companions even if we are Muslims. Finally I got assured about my young daughters”

-“Where the vicars and the Christians praying inside that church and where did you use to pray?”
-“Believe or not, no one from the vicars or the prayers came every Monday. They refused to pray in order to let us rest well and feel free with our stricken families. They are really generous! We as Muslims were praying inside that church and used their water to have ablution. I was really feeling that that church was like my home and even better!!”

Those are the people of Gaza. We are humans and we love each other Muslims or Christians. We are two souls dwelling to each other to hoist the fluttering flag of our Palestine.

Mohammad S Arafat (Mr. Pen)

We need Socialism in Scotland and UK not the SNP

Would Alex Salmond like to vote “NO” today? The Independent gives reasons to show that he might, except for the slight problem he is stuck with leading the “Yes” campaign.

Independence for Scotland cannot be achieved without ensuring you have sustainable and lasting resources. The promise of oil from the North Sea came and went in the twinkling of an eye after politicians promised us all a bright future. That future is now a country dogged by austerity where public institutions are closed down leaving the vulnerable without the safety net achieved to some degree by the welfare state. Capitalism has squandered it all to the benefit of the few, and a wealthy elite is enjoying the spoils while showing utter contempt for the majority. Of course the Scots are sick of this, as are we all. But Salmond’s SNP is not offering anything different. You’re hardly independent if you depend on other Capitalist dominated institutions like the EU run from Brussels or NATO. Will Rupert Murdoch save Scotland?

The British Parliament has really been shown up. When leaders of the three main parties joined together and went mob handed to Scotland who cared. UKIP might possibly appeal to nationalist sentiment but I didn’t notice Farage getting a hero’s welcome! One thing we can thank Scotland for is waking everyone else up.

The SOCIALIST LABOUR PARTY in Scotland released the following statement:

Statement by Socialist Labour Party Scotland

Scotland Needs Socialism – Not Sham Independence

A Scotland in the European Union, NATO, under the fiscal and economic jurisdiction of the Bank of England and with an unelected monarch as head of state may have gained some elements of separation after a Yes vote but what it will not be will be independent. And this is the SNP’s Plan A!

This anti-independence would deny the Scottish people through their elected parliament, without outside interference, the right to invest in …industrial regeneration, to retain the NHS as a free at the point of need public health service, to build homes for the 200,000 plus on council waiting lists or freely develop policies to tackle many of the other essential needs of the Scottish people. There would be no independence either when it comes to fishing or farming policy. And with the drive towards “fiscal and monetary union” in the EU, economic policy as well as tax, pensions and welfare benefits would all be further subject to decisions and veto from outwith Scotland.

The Socialist Labour Party in Scotland is opposed to this sham independence and advocates a NO vote. The Scottish people, as do the peoples of Wales and England, need jobs, social and welfare security and a vibrant productive economy. Working people need to know that they can rely on a National Health Service and be able to look to a future dignified life in retirement free from financial worry. Salmond’s so-called independence jeopardises these things because it will undermine the unity that built the welfare state after the second world war and open up our public services to the bureaucrats of the EU commission, the IMF and the sharks of international finance – ask the Irish, the Greeks, the Portugese, the Cypriots, the Spanish or even the Italians.

Our world remains in the grip of the greatest capitalist economic crisis in living memory and the only long term viable solution for working class people everywhere is to move in a socialist direction. To achieve that we need to build the widest possible unity of working class people – separation and division as proposed by the SNP and their confused, red tartanites and MacTrotskyite acolytes undermines this and would be a backward step.

SLP Scotland say No to the EU, No to NATO, No to the monarchy and No to tax cuts for the big corporations.

Vote No on 18th September.

Like

Academies prove privatisation ends in tears

A report on academies has shown that Heads of academies are agreeing considerable sums to be paid to their own sponsors, trustees and friends for contracts such as training.

As we have seen over and over the relentless privatisation of public services ends up in tears: those of us, the public, whose money has been passed over to the privatisers benefitting the directors and share holders, and the users: school children and their families. What can we do about it? Not much since control of schools has passed to national government as local government is starved of resources and power.

Invisible Victorians

In 1993 Vital Link Educational Limited was formed. It’s first publication was called “Invisible Victorians”. It asked the question why were a group, sometimes referred to as “a visible minority”, be invisible in history. Of course this refers to the many, notably women, who have been grossly overlooked in successive patriarchal societies that have defined what recorded history should include or leave out. As Winston Churchlll famously said “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”

An exhibition in London explores that dimension of Victorian Britain members of Vital Link and others have from time to time uncovered.

Shoja`eya`s Diaries (1). Young Gazan Writers

 

1907454_1498725283716541_2033382846698431383_n

“Ya Allah, I`m so weak and I can do nothing….I cannot make decisions, so please help me” The Paralyzed mother Om Ahmad was praying to Allah (God) to help her getting ut her serious problem.” Ya Allah, I`m disabled and cannot walk like others. I lost all my family last week and I`m alone with my little baby Ahmad who is mentally disabled. I cannot deal with this difficult situation. I wanted to leave this dangerous place as I`m so scared of the coming few minutes, but I cannot leave with him, so please help me.”

The dreadful bombings where targeting the homes all around Om Ahmad`s home mercilessly. The horrible voices hither and thither where heard loudly. There were no sirens although the streets were full of spread burnt corpses and injuries. Om Ahmad went out her home carrying her baby difficultly, creeping like children, and not knowing whether she would live or die. She could not carry him for a while, and she did not know what to do. She cried and moaned. She wailed like children over the harsh situation that she was in, but the blare of a rocket cut in her voice. Miraculously, she left her baby in front of the door crying, and then she left the area on the last spurt creeping on her knees. The baby remained in that dangerous area under the bombs not knowing his fate and the mum hurried to an unknown area leaving her little kid crying. Finally, this story can be over when we say that the entire family got abolished as if the air removed the dust.

Done by: Mohammad S Arafat (Mr. Pen)

Scottish separation is not the way to get rid of the Tories

Saying “yes” to independence for Scotland is very tempting, but those of us left with the Westminster elite feel dismayed that a country with a strong Socialist tradition want to go it alone. We all want the chance to say “yes” for an independent West Midlands not mention Cornwall, Wales and Ireland. So why say “no”?

I remember the great struggle for an independent South Africa under a seemingly Socialist ANC led eventually by the iconic figure of Nelson Mandela. The name was going to have to change to Azania if I remember correctly. I can’t say from personal experience since I have only set foot on South african soil briefly, in transit to and from Zimbabwe, but I am sure things have changed greatly. For the better for many, yet not by any means for all. An elite continues to exist, not along the apartheid lines with black people excluded from power, but leaving many, the majority black, still waiting for a modest place at the table. Socialist it surely ain’t.

With the Westminster elite launching themselves on Scotland only days before the referendum, comment that panic had set in seemed spot on. Given that they are the very reason that we’d all say “yes” how wise the idea was remains to be seen. Why say “NO”?

Seumas Milne writing in the Guardian sums up why Salmond’s promises can’t and won’t come to fruition:

The message that if you vote yes you’ll never get another Tory government could hardly be a more powerful one in a country that polled 42% for Labour and less than 17% Conservative in 2010 and ended up with Cameron as prime minister all the same.

But the idea that a yes vote would be a short cut to a progressive future in a Scandinavian-style social democracy is another matter. It’s not just that Scottish voters aren’t being offered genuine independence at all. Instead, the state cooked up by the SNP is one signed up in advance to the monarchy, Nato, the EU and a currency controlled from London.

Sure, Whitehall and Brussels will negotiate terms if it comes to it. But that will certainly be on the basis of harsh debt and deficit limits – turning an already tight fiscal inheritance into a turbo-charged austerity that would make the kind of welfare system Salmond is promising impossible to deliver.

On top of that the SNP, which would doubtless rule the roost in the aftermath of a vote for independence it would rightly be seen to have brought about, is still no party of the centre-left. Backed by tax avoiders, hedge funders, privateers and Rupert Murdoch, its central economic policy is to cut corporation tax 3% below the British rate to attract capital to Scotland.

The Socialist Labour Party in Scotland is calling for real Socialism to be established which is not on the agenda of the SNP:

Statement by Socialist Labour Party Scotland

Scotland Needs Socialism – Not Sham Independence

A Scotland in the European Union, NATO, under the fiscal and economic jurisdiction of the Bank of England and with an unelected monarch as head of state may have gained some elements of separation after a Yes vote but what it will not be will be independent. And this is the SNP’s Plan A!

This anti-independence would deny the Scottish people through their elected parliament, without outside interference, the right to invest in …industrial regeneration, to retain the NHS as a free at the point of need public health service, to build homes for the 200,000 plus on council waiting lists or freely develop policies to tackle many of the other essential needs of the Scottish people. There would be no independence either when it comes to fishing or farming policy. And with the drive towards “fiscal and monetary union” in the EU, economic policy as well as tax, pensions and welfare benefits would all be further subject to decisions and veto from outwith Scotland.

The Socialist Labour Party in Scotland is opposed to this sham independence and advocates a NO vote. The Scottish people, as do the peoples of Wales and England, need jobs, social and welfare security and a vibrant productive economy. Working people need to know that they can rely on a National Health Service and be able to look to a future dignified life in retirement free from financial worry. Salmond’s so-called independence jeopardises these things because it will undermine the unity that built the welfare state after the second world war and open up our public services to the bureaucrats of the EU commission, the IMF and the sharks of international finance – ask the Irish, the Greeks, the Portugese, the Cypriots, the Spanish or even the Italians.

Our world remains in the grip of the greatest capitalist economic crisis in living memory and the only long term viable solution for working class people everywhere is to move in a socialist direction. To achieve that we need to build the widest possible unity of working class people – separation and division as proposed by the SNP and their confused, red tartanites and MacTrotskyite acolytes undermines this and would be a backward step.

SLP Scotland say No to the EU, No to NATO, No to the monarchy and No to tax cuts for the big corporations.

Vote No on 18th September.

The Stolen Surprise. Gazan Young Writers

10421156_1496485647273838_1206585901870245284_n

“Mum, when will I see my little brother Ahmad in front of my eyes?”
Kholood, the eldest daughter, asked her pregnant mother happily, waiting
for the day to see her brother Ahmad in.” I want to see him very soon,
please. I want not to stop hugging and kissing him. I want to play with him
and to be proud of him as many of my friends vilify me because I don`t
have a brother. But now they will never dare to. He will protect me and my
three sisters when he grows up Inshallah.” 

“Hahahaha,” the tired mother smiled a very lovely innocent smile” you will see him very soon. Just try to force yourself to be patient for just five days. Your dad will get so happy and finally he will be a father of a real son. He finally can walk proudly among his neighbors not caring about their insulting words. I`m sure he will be the happiest father in this life. My aim is just to cheer him up.”

The five days have gone very quickly in safe and sound, full of joy and smiles in spite of the sever situations that Gaza was in. The family did not know the taste of sadness after the happiness killed their sorrow. But all of that was erased after the news about their uncle reached them. The mother`s brother got martyred with his entire family. That news made the family upside down. Their hopes got abolished and their joy got stolen. Everyone got shocked.

The mother was about to deliver the baby on that day, but she began to bleed severely before the time of delivering came. So the father called the ambulance and it arrived after ten minutes. Then the mother was moved to the hospital and entered the intensive care room to be treated before going to the room of birth. Doctors did their bests to make the mother alive, but, alas, she passed away.

Kholood and the sisters` screaming filled the hospital and everyone got really sad. They realized that they will never have a mother again and a brother as well. Everything has happened in some moments quickly.

After half an hour of crying and suffering, they heard a crying of a baby boy from the intensive room, so Kholood smiled a fake smile under a shade of sorrow. She did not know if she should smile or cry. Everything got mixed with each other. Happiness was mixed with sadness, but sadness was more. Her brother Ahmad was alive and her mum got dead. His tears were mixed with theirs. He will be motherless from the first day he saw the life in. Who will care him? Who will nurture him and make him a man to protect his four sisters? Who will look for Kholood and the other three sisters? Who will care the father? Where the family will get the humanness from after they have lost it? Who will let the family`s life smile? Those questions have been asked by kholood and her three poor small sisters until now.

Written by: Shaima` Al- Kholy
Edited and translated by: Mohammad S Arafat (Mr. Pen)

 

My Beloved Home!!! Gazan Young Writers “Mosab and Mohammad”

10612969_1490970877825315_3029688442263690343_n

Arif`s family got their breath back after about forty five days at the UN school and its bad circumstances. They lived in what no one would live in miraculously. The class, that they used to live in, had more than seven stricken families, and every family of those had more than eight members including crying babies and little needy children. The class was really crowded as though there was an enthralled audience watching a very heroic film. The crying of the babies filled the place and the groans of the elders were heard as if it was a room in a full of patients hospital. Men did not know how to stop their and their children`s suffering as there was no choice except accepting their cursed fate. Women were just thinking of nothing, but were thinking anyway. The clashes between couples filled the class and the slapping on cheeks was really hard. The situations there were really too dreadful and merciless for Arif and his family who were patient until the final spurt of the brutality. Once they heard the news about the ratified ceasefire, they forgot every bad moment that they lived in.

“Let’s gooooooooooo!!!” Arif cried out happily at his family.” Let’s go back to our home. It`s waiting for us as we used to wait for this moment!!”
“Al Hamdulilah,” Arif`s wife praised her God smiling at her husband,” Finally we got to go to our beloved home and enjoy our life with our children like others.”
The wife wanted to collect the things that the charities donated for them, but Arif stopped her” What are you doing? We are not going to take anything from this place to our home. There are still many families lost their homes and they need these things.”

Arif`s wife got smiled and collected asked her children to begin the magnificent journey to their home!!

While walking towards home, everyone of Arif`s family was thinking of what he/ she would do once arriving the home. The girls thought about their pink room that their father painted for them before the beginning of the aggression. They thought about the big dulls and toys that they will play with. The little boys thought about the pets that they left at their home and about their little babies that should have been bigger by now. The eldest son thought about his new room that his Father built for him to get married in. The mother was thinking of her lovely big kitchen that she missed and the clothes that her husband gifted to her in their wedding. All were thinking about their lovely things except Arif who was really worried about the shock that he would get if something would happen to his home. He just stayed silent waiting for the emergence of the home.

After half an hour of walking, the family arrived at the area of their home happily diving into their hopes and dreams, dreaming for a better future and thinking positively, but the scene that they saw as they arrived destroyed their dreams and turned their hopes into ghastly horrible nightmares.

The home was disappeared as though someone uprooted it and threw it into an unknown place…

Mohammad S Arafat (Mr. Pen)