THOMAS MUIR - THE HIDDEN SPIRIT OF OUR TIMES

Known outwith Scotland as The Father of Democracy and Universal Suffrage at the time of Thomas Paine and a Hero of Rabbie Burns we hear very little about the pioneer and champion of Scottish Democracy.
According to the blurb "In 1986 Peter Arnott wrote a play about Thomas Muir for the Tron Theatre, directed by Michael Boyd and starring Kevin MacMonagle and Russell Hunter.  In the wake of the American and French Revolutions, Thomas Muir was transported to Australia in 1795 for organising the first national elected assembly in Scotland's history, The Friends of the People in 1792.  Robert Burns wrote Scots Wha Hae on the day Muir's trial started in 1794.  The letter he wrote with the first draft makes it clear who he had in mind: Wallace was an allegory for the real hero, Thomas Muir, a
champion for Democracy."

The play was a response to the original referendum in 1979 , an event in which the majority was denied. It takes place simultaneously between two places (Scotland and a prison ship on its way to Australia) and two times 1792/93 in Scotland and 1794 in Australia.The cast contained two members who performed in the original play in 1986.

As the leading voice of reform in Scotland, Muir suffered persecution and ultimately transportation for sedition for advocating democratic principles in Scotland when the Pitt-Dundas government feared democratic ideals as a threat to the status quo.

As a national figure associated with the ideals of democracy, Muir was essentially a democrat who believed in the people when the majority were not allowed to vote.

The first political prisoners transported to Australia were convicted in Edinburgh and were known as the "Scottish Political Martyrs."

He was born in 1765.

He attended the University of Glasgow from the age of 10 years and graduated with an MA at the age of 17 years: he was an Advocate in Law at the age of 22 years and practiced law in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

He was a product of the ‘Scottish Enlightenment’ and became a noted reformer and was a leader of Scottish ‘The Friends of the People’, the ‘United Scotsmen’ and a member of the ‘United Irishmen’.

Under his influence parliamentary reform societies were established all over Scotland. Muir was arrested on 4th August 1793, tried in Edinburgh on 30th August, and found guilty of having created disaffection by means of libel and seditious speeches.

He was banished to Botany Bay for 14 years. In 1796 he escaped and made his way to France, hailed as a hero and made a citizen of France.

Charges made against Thomas Muir in August 1793.

(a) That he attended meetings at Kirk-in-Tilloch and Milton, of a society for reform, in which he had delivered speeches in which he seditiously endeavoured to represent the government as oppressive and tyrannical.

(b) That he exhorted three people residing in Cadder, to buy and read Paine's Rights of Man.

(c) That he circulated the work of Thomas Paine, A Declaration of Rights, to the friends of reform in Paisley.

Lord Braxfield explained why he was sentencing Thomas Muir and the other leaders of the Convention in Edinburgh to be transported to Australia for fourteen years.

The British constitution is the best that ever was since the creation of the world, and it is not possible to make it better. Yet Mr. Muir has gone among the ignorant country people and told them Parliamentary Reform was absolutely necessary for preserving their liberty.

Thomas Muir, speech made at his trial on 30th August 1793.

What has been my crime? Not the lending to a relation of mine a copy of Mr Paine's work; not the giving away a few copies of an innocent and constitutional publication; but for having dared to be a strenuous and active advocate for an equal representation of the people, in the House of the people.

Thomas Muir, writing to the London Corresponding Society from prison on 24th April, 1794.

The spirit of freedom is not extinguished, but still remains its formal energy, in defiance of the artifices and the violence of despotism. Engaged in the sacred cause of Man, individual man is an atom of little value and when he recollects and contemplates the principles of his conduct, should disdain to use the term suffering. Without a vain affection for myself, I disdain the assumption of extraordinary merit. The man who has acted in obedience to the law of his conscience, has simply discharged his duty. 

You can get more information of this remarkable Man from the official Thomas Muir Website.

A SEASON IN THE CONGO at MAYFESTO

Aime Cesaire spent a few months in the embryonic , and ultimately still born suffocated democracy of post-colonial Africas Congo State , a diamond and precious mineral paradise that was made into a hell due to external colonial interference and internal instability caused by the ex-colonial and corporate machinations to get access to the riches of Africa by arming and supporting compliant secessationist movements to foreign Interests.
The play he wrote about his time records the first democratically elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba rise from resistor to trying to maintain the country from destructive forces both from within and without splitting it apart.The story follows an all to familiar path of resistance to colonial rule , election of a highly popular leader , a coup from a Military strongman who becomes a dictator ( the reviled Mobuto) supported and dependent to the West to whom a barely veiled corrupt elite hands over the riches of the land for a trifling price , thus starting the cycle of ever increasing poverty and debt leading to violence and perpetual disorder.This play had never been shown in Scotland before and shows the audience how the fate of a nation and its civilians wellbeing can depend on the actions of so few unseen actors controlling the hands of a few.

The the highly informative Video below charts the History of Lumumba , Congo and Colonisation.

JOCK : SCOTLAND ON TRIAL at the TRON

Author Alan Bissett performed two plays which were billed as scripted readings but were done with such professionalism they could easily have been full production ready to roll out at a moments notice.
The first play was an extract from "The Pure, The Dead and the Brilliant" , According to the Scotsman piece “The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant is a rambunctious, energetic piece of agit-prop – in the good, rousing manner of a John McGrath play or Oh! What a Lovely War – staged in the supernatural world of Scottish mythology.
“The faeries are divided about the impact the referendum will have on them, and set to try and influence its outcome. Along the way, cliches about the Scots are subverted and some home truths about our situation are faced.”
The theme is about the Faeries discussing how to get a No vote by using a distorted "patriotic" version of History , Seduction using the Mythology of "Great" britishness and how it has been good for the world and , mainly , Fear which seems to be the desperate touchstone of the Better Together campaign.

" Falkirk-born Bissett, one of the foremost voices in the cultural movement for independence, claims the aim of the play, which he says will be steeped in Scottish folklore, will be to bring “don’t knows” closer to the “yes” side of the debate."

The second play , directed by Cheryl Martin with a co-performance with Mayfest festival director Andy Arnold  "Alan Bissett premieres a new work-in-progress posing the question: is Scotland the colonised or the coloniser?

A police interview room. A table. Two coffees. Jock has been huckled for a crime he says he didn't commit: theft from other countries. He has been spotted a the scene but was he manipulated by his bosses? Was he there out of need? Or is Jock, as he claims, the victim of imperialism himself?"

This play challenges the accepted official narrative that Scotland was the first victim of English colonisation and empire-building with the increasingly disconcerting and academically credible emerging one that Scottish input was the main component which made the British Empire the "success" by providing  a steady stream of Administrators , Managers , Soldiers , Architects of Imperial Policy , Missionaries and Technicians far greater than the proportion of population of Scots in the United Kingdom.

Tom Devine , Adam Smith and Henderson all make appearances for and against the prosecution in a trial with balances both the victimhood and willing collaborator arguments of Scotlands role in the Empire in a compelling play which gives convincing arguments for both sides of the story , but the theme of ending the Union as being the only way for Scotland to Atone and make Amends and rectify its role in the World in the last Three Centuries does come out as the best way forward into the 21st Century for not only Scotland but also for the large part of the World on which Scotlands story was stages.  

Here is Alan Bissett contributing to the Independence debate in his native Falkirk.


And finally an excellent poem by him called "Vote Britain" which captures the state of fear from the vote No camp.

THE TEMPEST at the TRON GLASGOW

This production contains a young , mainly female , cast in a play that is sometimes criticised for the lack of depth and independence of the female parts in an otherwise play which tells a narrative of the "other" from the point of view of the victim.

"The text has been slightly edited" is a part of the blurb that may disconcert many in the audience , but , as Mike Scott defended his changing of the words of W.B.Yeats to fit in the the "music" of his tribute album an artists , no matter how legendary , work should be a source of faithful admiration , not a dogma to be beholden to.

And so director Andy Arnold allows Aime Cesaire have the first and last words in this production which gives prominence to the post-colonial themes of the play by writers from the colonies telling the story of their people to the descendants of the colonialists.

"Usurped as the Duke of Milan by his brother Antonio and the King of Naples, Prospero and his daughter Miranda are exiled to live on a remote island, served by their deformed slave Caliban, the island’s only inhabitant, and the spirit Ariel. Using the magic arts, Prospero rules over the island and when he divines that his enemies are close by, sees the opportunity to wreak his long-awaited revenge.  Conjuring up a terrifying storm, he shipwrecks the men responsible for his banishment, using every element of sorcery in his gift to orchestrate his rightful return home. 
Magic and the supernatural abound in Shakespeare’s famous colonial play, as Prospero’s control of the elements underpins his journey from betrayal to revenge and ultimate forgiveness.
Performed by the postgraduate acting students from the MA in Classical and Contemporary Text programme."

This review from The Herald gives a good background to the play and production.

"Coincidentally, I had been talking top the RCS about doing a classic piece, and that is why I thought of doing The Tempest, but taking a different slant on it, heightening the colonial elements that are in it. It has always been a colonial play, but in this production, Caliban is very much played as someone with great dignity and who has a certain moral authority in the piece, and that makes it a very appropriate piece."
Arnold has also opted to open and close the play with words by Cesaire, who, as well as a life's work as a writer, thinker and activist, taught radical thinker Frantz Fanon, who, like Cesaire, was born on the island of Martinique.
"Cesaire has become an important part of the festival," says Arnold. "When I thought about looking at colonialism in Mayfesto, I knew I wanted some kind of staging of Cesaire's epic poem Return To My Native Land, which I have had on my bedside table, as it were, since my student days. It is a really powerful, visceral and beautiful poem to stage, so I knew I wanted that to be part of Mayfesto.
"I was not familiar with Cesaire's other work, although I had heard of A Season In The Congo from a production at the Young Vic. Then I found out he had done his own version of The Tempest, called A Tempete, in which Caliban is more of a freedom fighter and Prospero is a white slave trader. There is a beautiful prologue and epilogue, in which Caliban has the last word, so I have topped and tailed this production with Cesaire's words, as well as programming readings of these other pieces as part of Mayfesto as a homage to this great unsung writer."

The young cast brilliantly acted the play with some stunning facial expressions which would have given a deep emotional depth to the production even without the need for words.

The play is part of the Mayfesto Festival which has a theme of Colonisation as told by the victims which is a very suitable one for the year in which the city hosts the Commonwealth Games.The video below gives an indication of the types of work on display.

YES at the CLYDE AUDITORIUM

Always had an ambition to see my favourite 100 songs ever performed live ( not that you can ever make such a list) , but i never thought that "Close To The Edge" , "Siberian Khatru" and "Awaken" would ever be added to that list tonight.

This review gets most thing of the evening right , though i found the sound excellent.

"This current Yes tour intrigued me though and I thought it was about time I immersed myself in an evening of Yessong. The set tonight, and on this current jaunt, is made up of three of the band’s best loved albums played in their entirety, namely ‘Close To The Edge’, ‘Going For The One’ and ‘The Yes Album’, a prog fans dream set. The fact that most of the dates sold out completely, well in advance, is testament to the band’s status as one of the giants of prog rock."

The playing of what would be considered some of the most difficult rock songs to perform live was a masterful mix of a fresh jagged sound that all live shows should have with faultless harmony that makes the audience believe playing this kind of stuff is a piece of cake.

Firstly we had the very first time the whole Close To The Edge Album has been performed in its entirity in Glasgow.

Close To The Edge:


Siberian Khatru:


The Going For The One Album had many surprisingly catchy songs which are in their element when done live.



This were finished of with an album made in the heady psychedelic summer of 1970 , at time in which 2/3rds of the audience was not even born , which is the best tribute i can think captures the enduring magic of Yes.

After all that they even had time for an Encore version of Roundabout.

HIROSHIMA IN 2013 at STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY

The above picture was taken on the evening prior to the 2013 anniversary of the 1945 Nuclear Bombing of the city.The hosts of JapanDesk Scotland were also there making a documentary of what this devastating event meant for the victims of the time and also the current youth of the City that literally rose from the ashes.The Dome featured has become an iconic landmark for the aftermath of the destruction , built by a Czech architect as a symbol of the City fathers desire to become more modern and cosmopolitan by creating modern buildings based on European designs."The main building exhibits victims' belongings and references which show the misery of the bomb attack. You will see a burnt lunch box, a tricycle which a 3-year-old boy was riding, etc., which reflect the instantaneous destruction and strike right at the heart of visitors. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was designed by a group headed by Kenzo Tange, who also designed the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The strength of humanity rising up from the ruins is expressed in the piloti-style space under the main building. People visit the museum throughout the year and should be moved to a desire not to repeat the same misery anymore and consider deeply whether atomic weapons currently present are really necessary or not for our future."

The memorial is inscribed "Let All Souls Here Rest In Peace , For We Shall Not Repeat The Evil" , this has had many political considerations over the years as to who is referred in the "We" , is it the US dropping on the Nuclear Bomb on the ultimate civilian target, Imperial Japanese Policies or Humanity throughout the generations itself.

One of the longer lasting evils was citizens in Hiroshima at the time had to pretend throughout the decades they were not from the city for fear of being unable to marry or be treated as incubators of diseases , real or imagined.The model for the official monument built later was 2 years old at the time of the bombing , 10 years later she was diagnosed with leukemia.The 20,000 Korean victims did not even have recognition for their losses until 1970 , with their commemorative monument being built away from the official one many years later from private subscriptions from Korean descendants.

                                              Sadako Sasaki , a symbol of innocent victims of Hiroshima

Under the US occupation of Japan which lasted until 1952 all discourse about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was off limits , especially as the later constitution and military set-up included Japan being part of the US Nuclear security umbrella.With Nuclear Japan being an inescapable fixture the debate among survivors to support efforts to the peaceful uses of Nuclear Power.

As the documentary pointed out Even today many ordinary Hiroshima citizens will not talk about the issue , the subject being taboo on political and social levels.Japanese textbooks cover the events in only a few sentences without the context of the bombings being looked into.

Even in diplomatic circles Ambassadors and diplomatic corps are not taught about the issue and it is considered taboo for older hands to describe the aftermath silence on the issue to younger diplomatic staff to the extent they are not aware of the issues , causes and consequences of the period.Diplomats Old and New complain "Post-war Japan is not allowed its own diplomacy, diplomats have to pretend."

One of the few attempts to discuss the events and aftermath was "Children of Hiroshima," commissioned by the Japan Teachers Union and based on a compilation of testimonies by a university professor, Arata Osada, combines documentary naturalism with lyrical and frankly sentimental passages. The bombing is recalled through a horrific, surreal montage that anticipates some of the wild imagery Mr. Shindo would bring to later, horror-inflected movies like "Onibaba" (1964) and "Kuroneko" (1968). But the overall tone is heartfelt and determined, as Takako, visiting the small handful of her former kindergarten students who survived, encounters both unbearable sadness and fragile optimism."

You can see it in the link below:


Because of the education curriculum Japanese Children only study Hiroshima in a detached  way , the issue is not even incorporated in the state curriculum with even August 6th being marked in a lowkey abstract way , this means younger Japanese dont feel confident the issue because they do not know much about them.

The video below gives a good overview of the present day remembrance of the awful bombings.


And below is the Korean Memorial to the victims that very few in Japan and the US recognise.