Explanations
of War
See
all those bright lights whizzing around
in the sky ...
They
are only the stars throwing a party.
And
the shaking you feel beneath you,
The
shaking that jars your teeth and your bones -
That
is only the way the earth dances.
And
the bangs and roars, the cracks and blasts
and booms -
These
are only the sounds of little spirits
tuning up their instruments.
And
the horrible wailing that rises and falls,
rises and falls above the buildings....
That
is only the rooftops shrieking their envy
that they cannot fly off.
And
the high fires that climb above the rooftops-
These
are the souls of our city rejoicing
their flight to heaven,
And
the black clouds of smoke blotting
the beautiful woman of the moon....
These
are our dark acts evaporating.
And
you my child, lying still in my arms,
Lying
stiff as a mould of ancient clay,
You
my child, you are only sleeping.
Rap for DJ Shay
Back
at the birth of my power
Back
at my hungriest hour
Back
on that street
Where
I first heard the beat
And
I ain't comin’ down anymore
what
a
night
what a killer
What
a
buzz
what a bruiser
Know
what you are
You’re
the
hook-master
Limb-witcher
Bone charmer
You
flip the discs like an alchemist
And
I’m losing
control in the mix
even
the stoners are
rush
out from their corners
and
go pogoing out on the floor
And
the mammies and daddies
swing
like the eighties
were
flung out the door
See
Joe C he happy an’
B
O’ D gone crazy an’
Paula
G getting high an’
Ann
Ryan she’s flyin
Dave
Lordan gone mental
This
shit is fundamental
Shay
man
Shay man
Shay man
Shayman
Shay man
Shay man
Shay
man
you
have me back
In
the gush of my youth
When
I first heard the roar of the truth
When
punk split my head
my
mind spread its legs
And
fire burst out of my mouth
Shay
man
Shay man
Shay man
Shay man
Shay man
Shay man
Shay
man
Back
at the birth of my power
Back
in my hungriest hour
Back
in that room
Where
I first heard the boom
And
I ain’t comin’ down anymore
They
can baton me onto the floor
They
punch me and kick me some more
They
can nail my hands to the door
But
I ain’t comin’ down, I ain’t comin’
down
No
I ain’t comin’ down anymore
~~~~
The
Dogs on the Street
That
Christmas winter shut behind us
like
an automatic gate,
and
no-one could figure the weather.
It
was too warm. It was fake.
The
beggars slept out in the rain.
The
high-street was filthy with neon
and
supermarket music was everywhere.
Ho
Ho Ho said the little fat men
selling
this years joy.
Clink
Clink Clink went the registers.
People
got way too drunk
And
fought or fucked with their neighbours.
Pensioners
shivered and died on their own.
The
books you read tore your head open
with light.
Their
was a scared look in friends eyes
when
they were saying goodbye.
Your
mothers voice was just a note away
from panic
when
she spoke on the phone.
You
had refused, the first year ever, to go home.
I
guess everyone knew what was coming,
even
the dogs on the street.
~~~~~~~~~
Tom
Barry pulls out.....
Who
is there now that can remember
Our
little intifada?
Here
in the walled in province of the possible.
Here
in the dull beyond the ditch of time.
In
a time that should never have been,
In
a petty Republic no more than a name.
There
is no such thing as children.
Mother’s
and fathers I won’t even mention,
Or
the old men who used to sing and whistle
On
the way to work,
Or
the keeners who are long gone out of a job,
For
who sees any sadness now in the
going the flesh way.
Last
week as I wandered round the bog
I
saw the last telling ruin bulldozed
to the ground.
Or
the doors nailed shut,
Or
the windows painted black.
Nor
a well or a tinkers horse or a sloe-bush
to be found.
The
whole shaggin country’s a golf course.
Them
and their men made of bronze.
Well
I tell you now it’s sad day
When
there’s not a sinner left around
To
haunt with hope.
When
even the ghosts give up
The
ghost
And
move to Dublin.
~~~~~~~~~~
Tribute
To Joe Strummer
Your
words were boots Joe , boots in
Lewisham
When
black and white and yellow riot put down
the Nazi scum,
And
in Trafalgar Square in ninety-one
When
the fury of our rainbow class put Thatcher on the run
Your
words were firing like a gun Joe, firing
like a gun.
I
heard your booming words echo
Through
the streets of Prague-
when
we shut the World Bank down
And
you were roaring vengeance in Genoa
when
we had to fight through gas
and
bullets just to hold our ground
And
when the many-headed future
met in Florence
Everyone
knew your name Joe
Your
songs were all around.-
And
when they threw me in a cell Joe
I
sang straight to hell Joe
And
when they stood me up in court Joe
I
hummed the Brixton guns Joe
Oh
Joe! when you got up to sing
It
was a fist in a coppers face
It
was a pitchfork in a landlords neck
It
was a bullet in a contras gut
It
was an arrow in the eye of a general
It
was a kick in the balls for the rich.
It
was everything good Joe
It
was everything good
~~~~~~~~~~~
You
ask me why I am fighting
I
am fighting for my father and my mother
For
my nana’s, my granda’s, my uncles
and my aunts,
None
of whom were ever children.
None
of whom ever got a chance.
I
am fighting because I shelter the flame
of their lost lives
In
the cup of my bare hands. I will not let it out.
Dave Lordan©2003
"No revolutionary
movement is complete without its poetical expression. If
such
a movement has caught hold of the imagination of the
masses, they will seek a
vent in song for the aspirations, the fears and hopes,
the loves and hatreds
engendered by the struggle. Until the movement is marked
by the joyous, defiant
singing of revolutionary songs, it lacks one of the most
distinct marks of
a popular revolutionary movement; it is a dogma of the
few, and not the faith
of the multitude."
-James Connolly, Introduction to
"Songs of Freedom," 1907
**********************************************************************
ZNet Commentary
Report on Salonica
June 30, 2003
By Nikos Raptis
The biannual European Union (EU) summit
meeting, of June 20-21,
took place in Salonica , as it was the turn of Greece to
hold the presidency of the EU. Twenty-five heads of state
(plus their
retinues) attended. The meeting was held at the Porto
Carras luxury hotel complex, some 93 miles southeast of
Salonica on the Halkidiki peninsula The place was chosen
for security reasons as it offers Alcatraz-type security
advantages.Up to a few hours before the European heads of
state arrived workers were still painting the rooms the
elite were going to sleep in. The problem of fresh-paint
smell was solved by a generous use of space deodorants.
So, finally the leaders of Europe had their safe
accommodation.
So, the EU leaders were ready to begin their
back-breaking work. Of course, the most important part of
their work apart from their discussion of how to best
serve the will of the (transatlantic) Emperor and apart
from the problem of the (traditional Christian) lack of
enough fresh fish to
feed the (elite) crowd, was the problem of security from
the acts of the unwashed rabble. There is no doubt that
the will of the Emperor was taken "seriously"
into account. For the fish problem, there is a rumor that
it was solved through the use of frozen substitutes. Yet,
the real success of the Greek government, as periodic
head of Europe, was in the field of security. The
post-9/11 type of security.
On the Porto Carras site there were two Patriot
anti-missile batteries, Stinger missiles, a very advanced
radar system at the on site heliport, 7.5 miles long 10
feet high barbed -wire fence around the complex, around 4
miles of underwater steel mesh placed across the entrance
of the bay, 6,000 policemen around the complex, etc,etc.
All these for a 48-hour vacation for the EU elite. But
all these were routine stuff. The real security triumph
took place in the city of Salonica itself.
The security solution for the city was a two pronged one:
First, "Salonica tries to win over
protesters,"goes the title of a page-one report in
the English language insert of "Kathimerini,"
in the International Herald Tribune. (June 6). "The
Ministry... has provided 300,000 euros [about US $
300,000)] to cover infrastructure requirements (for
chemical toilets, tents, cleaners, snacks, and
refreshments." (Ibid, June 10). Second, the Greek
government tried to terrorize the people of Salonica. It
succeeded.
For weeks before the EU summit the machinery of wholesale
terrorism of the state (as compared to the petty retail
terrorism of individual direct action) had been operating
in full. Even weddings and baptisms had been postponed
for the period of the summit. But the crown of the
achievement of the Greek state was the cladding of
downtown Salonica in galvanized sheet metal! The fronts
of shops, building entrances, etc, were "boarded
up" with galvanized sheet metal of about 1
millimeter (about 0.04 inches) thick. The sheet metal
sheath had an elaborate door structure for the proprietor
to get in and out of his shop.
The entire project was quite expensive. Other shop owners
were more courageous and put signs on their glass windows
proclaiming: "Salonica: City of Dialogue," or
stayed in their shops during the demonstrations. Also to
"supervise" the sheet-metaled streets there
were more than 10,000 policemen! For three days the
people of Salonica were in their houses. The streets were
empty. The only humans on the streets were the
demonstrators and policemen (a.k.a. "pigs").
Then the demonstrators arrived in Salonica. About 70,000,
according to the demonstrators themselves. About 40,000
according to the police. Among them many people from all
over the world. On Thursday, June 19, there was a big
anti-racist demonstration, talks, panels of discussion,
etc. All was quiet and dignified. Next day at noon, about
6,000 demonstrators boarded buses for the 93-mile drive
to Porto Carras, where they demonstrated peacefully,
outside the "red zone", delineated by the
fence, the police, etc. Then about 1,000 demonstrators
tried to go over a little bridge that was the only free
access point to the Porto Carras complex itself.
There were 6,000 police to prevent the 1,000 young
demonstrators. All the police had to do is attack them
with these ionized chemicals. The demonstrators started
running in panic up the hills, where the brave police
waited to ambush them and beat the hell out of them.
Fortunately no injuries were reported, as the
demonstrators obviously retreated.
Next day, Saturday, June 21, the main demonstration took
place in Salonica. The tens of thousands of
"regular" demonstrators demonstrated
peacefully. About 2,000 anarchist demonstrated separate,
but peacefully. About 500 of the "Black Block"
started smashing shops, etc. Especially those that were
clad in the galvanized sheet metal, as it was easy to pry
open a place at the door joint and throw a "Molotov
cocktail" in the shop. Because of the cladding it
was not easy to spot the fire and the fire-fighting was
harder than if there was no sheet metal. There were about
76 shops, etc. and 15 cars damaged. Arrested were 102
persons. All were released except 27 of them. Of the 27,
seven (three Greeks, two Spaniards, a Briton, and a
Syrian) were remanded in custody after criminal charges
were pressed against them. The other 20 were released
later after criminal charges were pressed against them.
Eyewitness reports:
- Some of the "persons that vandalized
buildings" attacked the offices of the Greek
Communist Party in Salonica with an axe.
- The group that were destroying, etc, "moved to
side streets, threw away, masks, bags, etc, put on new
blouses, given them by people waiting for
them at the side streets." Many people think they
were policemen.And this is the reason why: - The arrested
Briton, Simon Chapman, is shown in state TV footage
carrying a light blue backpack at the moment of his
arrest. In the same footage policemen are shown picking a
black backpack from the
pavement putting a hammer in it and forcing it on
Chapman.
- Again in TV footage, of a private channel this time, a
man is shown entering a shop grabbing stuff and leaving,
while a policeman is standing about five yards away very
much uninterested. The really tragic thing is that the
commentator of the private channel watches the same scene
as the rest of the population of Greece and bypasses it
without comment the same way the policeman did.
- From the arrested anarchists and released there is the
following statement in the paper
"Eleftherotypia" (June 27, p.7): "We have
seen how the police was changing backpacks and forced
their backpacks on the people arrested. We have undergone
brutal beatings. We know that the jail area that we were
taken to smelled of gasoline..."
Of the entire event the worst part was the TV coverage by
the private channels. The effort to help the government
in its attempt to terrorize the populace by concentrating
on the few dozens of "unknown " vandals while
ignoring the tens of thousands of demonstrators is
nauseating.
Yet there are really positive aspects of the event: Once
more the elites
sought an Alcatraz environment to avoid the
"rabble". Also, most important, the Emperor was
forced to lower its star-spangled banner at the US
Consulate in Salonica when the demonstrators started to
move.
Note: The
"Black Block" prior to the war on Iraq had been
asked to abstain from violence to people and property
which they complied with, as a complete pacifist headline
was required - and in the face of government propaganda,
media reports and police violence and lies it would seem
to me necessary to maintain that in future. Are the shop
keepers guilty of capitalist crimes? I think not.The
police must surely not be given reason for violence which
aids and abets the governments and industrialists of the
"global" imperialism. j.braddell, editor.
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