GERMAINE GREER at Ayewrite

First things first , Germaine Greer can be best understood , and her vast experience imparted and listened too , when we realise she is not a feminist as such , she was in her time an advocate for sexual liberation , and later an inspiring passionate supporter of Human liberation ( including a keen supporter of aboriginal rights in her native Australia as well as a current Patron of the UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign.This means she was never a dogmatic ideologue , but rather a pragmatic loyal champion of genuine equality.

This is the 40th anniversary of the publication of The Female Eunuch.Germaine has , on and off , been involved in some or other anniversaries ( 10 years ; 15 years etc), she claims they seem to last about 3 years.

Germaine had a very deeply impactual and profound message for the Woman in the audience , a generation of which says she is very proud and regards as constituting the best generation of Woman in Human history.

Her talk asked so many questions it will take those in attendance the best part a couple of decades to correctly formulate them , yet alone begin to give telling answers.It was one of the most stimulating , yet humbling , experiences ive had.

Here Germaine gives the Winifred Mercier public lecture to a packed Gandhi Hall in Leeds , with special empathise on the role of Woman in Teaching.



A very telling message Germaine gave in the Glasgow talk was to pose to the audience if the rights of the last 40 years have been won by the efforts of Woman and their backers or have been GRANTED by the elite powers that be for their own agendas , namely , giving Woman the right to work when a large cheap workforce was required;giving Woman access to contraception when it was convenient for society to have less woman missing out on work ; giving woman the right to run for high office when corporate interests had the agenda bagged.And finally , what some imperceptive feminists regard as the supreme triumph , giving Woman a chance to have children , by artificial means , when Men do not want any responsibility for the care and support of Children and Mothers , in a sense they can have Children , but they are on their own.

TRISTRAM HUNT at Mitchell Library

This event at the Ayewrite festival was in the Burns Room in the older victorian part of the library.It was fitting for a historian who has just written a biography of Engels to give his lecture of a man who was part of the duo who examined and analysed the potential extrapolation of the experience of life in industrialising Europe into a model for revolutionary change.





Engels came to Manchester to work in his fathers Family Cotton Business from Germany as many intellectuals theorised the great proletarian revolution would tale place in the northern workshops of England , it was also ideal as he was close to being incarcerated if he kept up his ideals and thoughts in the current climate in Germany, he also wanted to chronicle and catalogue what may happen in order to enliven his understanding for what would ultimately happen in continental Europe , mainly present day Germany.

Marx and Engels really wrote about , and expected , the great revolution to take place in the hodge podge that was more or less todays Germany , even in the 1890s when Engels was given his last pronouncements he would have been most surprised if a revolution of the type he envisaged was to happen in agrarian Russia.Even when the Bolsheviks took control in Russia Lenin and especially Trotsky still considered Germany to be the heartland for a true long lived Communist revolution and were urging the politburo to agitate and assemble a military force to assist and support the German proletariat.

One odd feature among many of the Marx and Engels critique was their view on the traditional Family. . Not surprising seen as Engels the class ridden combo of one "presentable" wife for his high society Friends ,with whom he got on well , and the mistress in a lovenest elsewhere in the city for his equality delights.

Engels , like Trotsky , enjoyed a bit of hunting and enjoyed his membership of the local hunt a great deal.One of his enduring passions was Fox Hunting.

In the end Engels was to be disappointed when the Manchester population he had carefully documented were given a chance to state their aspirations for their class and send a signal to the ruling masters.They ended up voting for the upper class Tory party candidates because of their bigotry and rivalry against the catholic Irish poor workers as opposed to recognising a common comradely plight and affinity with , if they read their Engels , follow working class brethren.

Engels used a great deal of his wealth to more or less permanently fund and subsidise Marx , ultimately moving to London to be near his dear Friend.

TARIQ ALI at AYEWRITE

When asked straight up his opinion about the Obama Administration he said Obama is at the end of the day the head of an Empire like Rome , it is a matter of nuance whether he is a Caligula or Augustus.

Obamas variance with Senator Cain was a choice of War with Iran or a double-up play with a War in Afghanistan being extended into Pakistan , a population ten times the size of Iraq and at least three times that of Iran.John Major , hardly a diehard lefty , categorically stated a while back the British have suffered a long second in two wars in the region and are hardly likely to do much better this time round with less logistical backup.




Obama gave a clear intention of the way he means to go on when the first strikes of unmanned rockets into Pakistani territory ( which have had a 99% success rate in killing innocent civilians ) were fired barley 24 hours into his taking the oath of presidency.Meaning he did not even go through a semblance of a motion to having a stocking taking audit of the effectiveness for this highly inflammatory as well as controversially diminishing return crude tactic.

Here Tariq Ali gives a first balance sheet forensic audit for the first months of the Barack Presidency.

MICHAEL MANSFIELD at AYEWRITE

Our old pal Ruth Wishart made the perfect introduction " Michael Mansfield is a man who threatens to give the legal profession a good name".

Michael Mansfield is a radical lawyer in the true sense of the word , seeking to go to the very roots of an issue in not only a technical legal sense but also in a philosophical moral justice manner.

He talked about many cases of injustice he has helped to resolve including the Birmingham 6 ; Lawrence;Belmarsh and the Bloody Sunday enquiry.

His basic theme of the talk was the politicians have failed in their duty ; the law profession as a whole has failed to protect the citizens rights and the only way you can get justice is to demand it yourself in an individual and collective manner.

Michael expressed a sentiment that the UK electorate would vote in such a manner as to give no one particular political party a clear mandate in the next upcoming General Election.

He cited two extraordinary examples of the state of play in the field of legal and political redress which have slipped under the radar of the medias duty to inform the public , the first is only 4% of trials today are conducted by jury , the other 96% are completely non-jury affairs and the other was the passing of the Enquiries Act in the mid-2000s which mean enquiries like the Chilcott enquiry into the Iraq war can only be commissioned by the Prime Minister who can solely decide on the need for one ;parameters of the enquiry ; how far it can go ; and who Chairs it.

Here you can see the interview Michael Mansfield done for the BBCs Hardtalk programme.

And here is a quite remarkable must hear talk by Michael Mansfield on the harrowing ongoing plight of the Palestinians: ( it comes in 5 parts)

GODS HOUSE: MUSLIMS WHO SAVED JEWS DURING WWII

When the Nazis occupied Albania in 1943, not a single Jew was betrayed by its mostly Muslim citizens.


A remarkable achievement when we compare the records of France;Lithuania;Hungary and many other European nations.



This clip below shows as much heart-warming heroism as you can fit into 4 minutes.



"Whats unique about Albania in particular , there are more Jews alive after World War 11 in Albania than before World war 11 , there is no evidence of any Jew being turned over to the Nazis" so says Jewish film-maker Norman Gershman explains more about a story of Heroism you wont find in the mainstream media.

The article also highlights the role played by Turkey in facilitating the escape of 100,000 Jews from Nazi Persecution.

The Article also reveals some of the hypocritic machinations of US Zionist diehard organisations showing they are adept at moral gymnastics in favouring Israel over and above the Jewish Diaspora.

This film showing was preceded by The Imam and The Pastor , a tale of two former rivals who have become a model for peace and reconciliation in the troubled former colonial parts which form the troubled Heart of Nigeria.


You can catch a portion of the tale of forgiveness conquering fuelled rancour in the clip below:



These Shows were put together as part of the Salaam Scottish Film Festival.

PAUL PRESTON at AYEWRITE

Paul Preston is the foremost and highly respected Historian on the Spanish Civil War.His take on the History of the Region is that the Spanish Peninsula was a platform on which failing older empires and the newer protagonists tested each others nerve.It came in three types of segment.The British and French imposed an arms embargo which clearly favoured Francos Army in the guise of non-interference in Spanish Internal Affairs , Fascist Mussolini and Hitler saw how far they could get away with without appeasement turning to a genuine effort to stop Fascist expansion ( the reason for this was Britain had a hopelessly unprepared military which would not be in any form of fighting shape , it would not be ready until 1940 whilst France was in heavy debt), and the Soviet Union tried to see if it could get a foothold in Western Europe.The Catholic Church did not miss out on the act by declaring Francos crusade as legitimate cleansing.None of these external powers had Spains best interests at heart.Preston rightly concludes that the reconquest of Spain by Francos military coup against a democratic government undermined by so-called extreme socialist partners was the first Battle of WW11 , the loss of which to the Fascists ushered in the World war which may have been prevented earlier.

Preston expressed a fear , though only shared by a minority of the sell out audience , that the History of Spain may turn out to be a "dead" history like the French Revolution of 1789 rather than a living lesson which should serve as a beacon and warning to the pitfalls which yield fascist tendencies and the rise of the hard core right.

Preston regards journalism as the first draft of History , with the the supreme responsibilities this entails on the profession , and has recently written a Book on the legacy of foreign Spanish War correspondents.




The reason Preston gives for the alleged British dominance in the field of Spanish Civil War History , even though some 20,000 or more Books have been published about the Civil War by Spaniards , though most cover regions and single towns experiences rather than an overview of the whole experience and its consequences is the British Historian is free to specialise in foreign History without having to first graduate in a "national" "official" history which is not always the case on the Continent , this means they can access archives and come to conclusions which local Historians would find difficult to get past inhouse self-censorship.

One extremely important point Paul made was on the issue of objectivity in Journalism and consequentially History that should be well learned by the BBC with their absurd Gaza Charity Appeal debacle as well other other newsfeed managers.He quoted Martha Gellhorn , the poor broad who was Hemmingways girlfriend and 3rd wife ,As a journalist she abhorred what she referred to as "objective bullshit", believing that there was a right and wrong side to every conflict, and that it was her job to separate the bastards from the decent people.

MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE at the CITIZENS THEATRE

When first performed in London , zionists being zionists made a crude , and highly illuminating , show of attempting to rubbish the memory of courageous Human Rights Peace Activist Rachel Corrie , at best they called her a naive dupe , at worst an aiding and abetting supporter of Terrorism.There efforts came to little avail because they merely generated more publicity and a greater general interest in the public mind to find out why the Israeli State and Military would wish to murder an innocent unarmed American Girl in cold blood.The Israelis may have wrongfully killed Rachel but they failed to kill her Humanity and , especially the heartfelt message she wished to convey to her community at home as well as the World at Large.They killed her body only to waken her memory , as the play title suggests all who are interested in politics and Human Rights now know her name thanks to Israeli Brutality.

I had tickets to see the London and Broadway highly acclaimed play at the Edinburgh fringe festival about 3 years ago but due to a slight misunderstanding over the 24 hour clock , which i blame on the info the ticket seller gave me , but my accompanying Friends on that humiliating excursion put down to a touch of Non Compos Mentis on my part.The net result was we arrived confidently at the venue when the audience was streaming out.And so it took all this time to finally see it , getting the embarrassing episode out my system.

The production is a superbly produced affair about a remarkable person in an extraordinary situation.It is an intense and emotionally charged testimony that will be a veritable charge sheet of the crimes of the Israeli Army and State in the court of Providence and Opinion of future generations.It is all the more Powerful in that it is told by an Ordinary American Girl in the language which every household there can readily relate to.

Here is the Directors view of the production:




Watching it makes it hard to believe the Actress is making her debut in a One Woman Play.The Performance is quite brilliant , taking the audience in hand and spiritualising them to the truth in hand , in a way Oscar Wilde would have understood when he praises the virtues of the Theatre Actress to the character Dorian Gray in thew short story of that name.Here she explains the process of playing Rachel and what the portrayal meant to her:



You can get the background of Rachels life and the legacy of her passing in this excellent website representing the Rachel Corrie Foundation set up in her memory and honour.

When the Israelis killed Rachel they did not realise this cruel and outrageous act would bring the American Consciousness to Life.

Here is the irrepressible and compassionate Alice Walker doing a tribute reading of some of the sensitive and deeply moving journal entries made by Rachel before her being Killed by Israelis using US Corporate made Machinery:



Here are some more of the journal entries which make up a good portion of the play.

Here is a moving emotional tribute poem to the life Rachel choose:

TERRY EAGLETON GIFFORD LECTURE : THE GOD DEBATE

According to the official Gifford Lecture website "The prestigious Gifford Lectureships were established by Adam Lord Gifford (1820–1887), a senator of the College of Justice in Scotland. The purpose of Lord Gifford's bequest to the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, St. Andrews and Aberdeen was to sponsor lectures to “promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term—in other words, the knowledge of God”."

For over a century the Gifford legacy has attracted genuine world class masters in their fields to give lectures free of charge for ant member of the public interested and able to register in a timely fashion.I first became aware of this kind hearted enterprise when Noam Chomsky came to lecture a few years back.


The lectures are offered by the 4 older universities in Scotland and Terry Eagleton gave a fascinating lecture as part of the famous Gifford Lecture series at Edinburgh University entitled the “The God Debate”.It perceptive ; amusing and eloquent debunking of the most dangerous religion on the planet – Atheist Fundamentalism , and especially its chief high priests Dawkins and Hitchens.

Right from the off Eagleton identifies a spurious " have you seen the yeti , if not it doesnt exist" almost zealot driven deeply polemic agenda espoused by Ditchkins ( as Eagleton lumps the duo).Whilst Dawkins seems to be driven from the perpective that God , rather than he , is the centre of attention , Hitchens is a decidedly pernicious concoction aligned with the neo-con agenda trying a masquerade as a great universal leftist civilising cause.Hitchins goes further than Dawkins in having an objection to Faith itself as a Human Condition.

Very early he puts Atheist pin-up Saint in his place in this review.

In the case of Hitchens one can also add Levy and a plethora of French leftists to this list.

The common link seems to be a Colonial attitude that European ideals are supreme , all others are deemed inferior;null and void.

It is something Bolivar identified nearly 200 years ago , and something Edward said commented upon when analysing the “leftness” of the likes of H.G.Wells and others who had no strong objection to European states maintaining empires.

Most certainly an ambivalence to Empires and/or colonies is a fundamental continuum that the Left has not been able to shake off.

Here is Eagleton giving a Lecture on The God Debate in the US a couple of years back:



At the very core of the problem is the acceptance that the state concept as developed in Europe is a workable model rather than something to be utterly rejected as an imperial project.The history of states in Europe itself has been a disaster since the early 1820s onwards , and has only been partially cured by the EU which became a region of rights rather than a state as such.

In the former Soviet republics, the middle east, the sub-continent, africa and even central america states were specifically designed to engender lack of cohesion and dependency on an outside power.

The acceptance of the state as a model that can be worked with means the Left can either be three things

1) Utterly ineffective and marginalised
2) Guilty of trying to export a failed revolution
3) Become cheerleaders for neocon projects using spurious Humanitarian and “progressive” arguments.

The ultimate flailing failing of Ditchkins , according to Eagleton is they have turned the debate into a clash of dogmas rather than a serious discussion on Faith as a Human Condition that has much to teach to the ultimate long term benefit of all.