My diary posts are the place for a bit of my news and poetry community news, plus my adventures in creativity.
Hey all, going to keep this intro brief as I’m spinning plates. Am writing and reworking furiously, I say that much of the time I’m able to maintain a state of what the Taoists call Wu Wei, or effortless activity, this is great progress and leads to good flow if I remember to eat… Our XR Rebel Library feature, What We’re Reading is out now go to https://rebellibrary.com/may-2024/ this month we look at “the ethics of mass-producing and consuming our fellow-creatures as our theme” entitled Blood, Bone and Gore and featuring the stunning poem Dry Spell by Rebecca Hawkes
First the poetry and writing stuff upfront then some comments on the growing Gaza Solidarity Camps which have been referred to as the “USA intifada” now global, and Freedom Flotilla for Gaza.
OUT NOW
Two new titles from Bloodaxe that look absolutely fascinating and are on my shopping list, burgeoning bookcase permitting, are
May Swim by Katie Donovan and Fantastic Voyage by Amanda Dalton
Release date: 23rd May 2024
more info: https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/new_titles/comingsoon
COMING UP
Sunday 12th May Poets for the Planet are making waves with an appearance at the Tunbridge Litfest. Festival programme here
NURTURING YOUR PRACTICE
For those wanting to take a leap this Carol Ann Duffy’s WRITING POETRY might appeal, with 25 video lessons and 88-page course notes it’s a steal at £79
You can learn at your own pace with deadlines. I’ve not personally taken this course but how often do you get to work with a former Poet Laureate?
https://www.bbcmaestro.com/courses/carol-ann-duffy/writing-poetry
IN OTHER NEWS
Is This the Third Intifada?
Intifada translates as uprising/ shaking
While the atrocities in Gaza continue and are relentless it would seem there has been an upswing in peace protests, swelled by celebrations of international workers day. Video from Reel News of the London protest on May 1st here
In the past few months there has been a growing number of solidarity camps for Gaza in universities calling for a ceasefire and divestment from companies linked to Israel mostly in the USA, “66 Universities (56 in US, 4 in UK, 2 in France, 2 in Australia and 1 in Canada) Last revised on April 28th.” Video footage here
Following vicious attacks by police on protests calling for a ceasefire at campuses in California and the most recently, from what I can make out, at Columbia University New York on Tuesday https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/30/new-york-police-columbia-university-student-protests protests are now spreading globally.
The Washington Post reported yesterday, “From Kuwait to Lebanon, in Egypt and Ramallah, students have occupied central locations on campuses and on Monday and Tuesday waved placards calling for an end to the war in Gaza and divestment by their universities from companies that do business with Israel.
Similar protests have taken place at Sorbonne University in Paris and elsewhere, including Italy, Britain, Canada and Australia, as the global student demographic piles pressure on administrators and governments almost seven months into the war. Some of those protesting said they were directly inspired by U.S. students.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/30/college-protest-middle-east-gaza
Meanwhile support for the student protests is growing. Al Jazeera report, “Nearly 190 advocacy organisations laud students’ ‘courage’ amid ongoing crackdown on encampments across US universities.”
While the Middle East Monitor note “UN rights chief ‘troubled’ by ‘heavy-handed’ suppression of US student protests”
Meanwhile the Freedom Flotilla carrying 5 500 tonnes of aid to Gaza including three ambulances and a fire engine is battling bureaucracy in order to set sail. There are over 1000 people aiming to sail on the flotilla of three ships from 36 nations, funded by donations from four million people across the world. For updates and how to support go to https://freedomflotilla.org/i-want-to-help/
A year ago a friend in Mexico sent me a meme which translated to “great changes always come with a great shaking. It’s not the end of the world it’s the beginning of a new one. A year on we find ourselves in the midst of a great shaking. I Have no doubt what we are living through is historic.
While we must not forget the horrors that have caused this, a genocide live streamed on our screens, I am certain we will look back on this time the same way we do on the time of the Occupy Movement which coincided with the Arab Spring. And comparisons are being made in the US press to the anti war protests during the American War in Vietnam which coincided with world shaking and revolutionary events in 1968 across the world. I could go on. What is not certain is the shape of the world on the other side of this.
Our movements are connected like never before, our banners call for dignity, peace, respect, beauty, love, freedom, a sustainable earth.
Let’s stand firm as the world shakes, let our rage become compassion, let our grief become our reason for living, let our love become the ship on which we sail to the new world. Love is what we must hold onto at this time above all else. All hands on deck!
#Love and #Solidarity know no borders
Image: “A Massachusetts Institute of Technology student hangs a sign on a barricade surrounding a protest encampment in support of Palestinians on April 28, 2024 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the United States” [Amanda Sabga/Reuters]
A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper
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