The CCDC pamphlet on the Falls Curfew

Those of you who share my interest in words and language (not that you could tell that by reading any of the posts on this blog) will be interested in Merriam-Webster’s ‘Words of the Year’ list.

The list

The international financial situation has clearly hit upon the consciousness of the many with ‘Bailout’ topping the list, and the American Presidential election’s influence can be seen with terms such as ‘bipartisan’ and ‘maverick’ earning their stripes.

However the eyebrow may be raised by the term ‘socialism’ coming in at number three.

Accepting that

(A) Americans make up the largest block of the websites users

(B) ‘Socialism’ has been in recent tradition, a term synonymous with ‘terrorist’ and ‘traitor’ (amongst others)

(C) People are now looking up ‘socialism’ in the dictionary, presumably to get a definition and not a political view of the term.

Hmmm… this theory could be a load of old tosh of course and it may have more to do with Joe The Plumber (who as a symbol, has more in common with the lefts ennoblement of workers rather then the right’s visions of hope and glory) then any increase of alternative economic systems..

Anyway heres the link

http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/08words.htm

And not a mention of the UUP anywhere

Subway Sack Young Pregnant Migrant Worker

Natalia Szymanska, a young Polish woman was sacked from Subway in her fifth month of pregnancy on a dubious charge of being in breach of the company’s health and safety policy.

We call on Subway to:-

· immediately reinstate the pregnant worker,

· reimburse her for loss of earnings,

· compensate her for the injury to feeling,

· treat all workers fairly.

Picket of Subway

141 Lisburn Road,

(Across from Wellington Park Avenue)

Belfast

12.30 – 1.30 pm Friday 7^th November

Weekend of events to celebrate those who volunteered to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War

Thursday 6th November
Venue: LA BOCA
6 Fountain Street, Belfast
TAPAS NIGHT Poetry reading: Gerard McLaughlin and friends
Music: Gerry Jones and friends
Tickets from La Boca, 028 90323087

Friday 7th November -7pm
Venue: CULTURLAN
Falls Road.
Showing of Irish Language DVD of Eugene Dowling

Friday 7th November – 7.30pm
Venue: TOWN HALL
Union Street, Lurgan
JIM HAUGHEY MEMORIAL LECTURE
Fighting Fascism Then and Now.
Speakers: Roy Garland, Harry Owens, Peter Bunting
Organised by the Craigavon & District of Trade Unions Council

Friday 7th November -8pm till Late
Venue: PAT’S BAR
19-22 Princes Dock Street
MUSIC AND SOCIAL NIGHT
Food Available

Saturday 8th November -12pm
Venue: PREMIERE INN corner of Waring street and Donegall Street
Launch of Book “No Pasaran – We intend to show the world.”
(Commissioned by Belfast & District Trades Union Council)
Author Ciaran Crossey
Saturday 8th November -2pm
Unveiling of Sculpture
Writers Square, Donegall Street
International Brigade veterans Bob Doyle, Jack Edwards and Jack Jones
are to be in attendance along with relatives of the Brigadistas.

Evening Venue: 6pm till late
JOHN HEWITT BAR
Donegall Street
MUSIC EVENT
Organised jointly with ICTU Anti Racist Workplace Week celebrations.

Sunday 9th November -3-6pm
Venue: JOHN HEWITT BAR
Donegall Street
TRIBUTE TO LA PASIONARIA
The 70th anniversary of the Brigadistas leaving Spain.
First screening of Royce Harper’s DVD about The Irish volunteers
Gerry Gleason’s exhibition/DVD

When I saw this it reminded me of the following

Fight to a Finish
Siegfried Sassoon

The boys came back. Bands played and flags were flying,
And Yellow-Pressmen thronged the sunlit street
To cheer the soldiers who’d refrained from dying,
And hear the music of returning feet.
“Of all the thrills and ardours War has brought,
This moment is the finest.” (So they thought.)

Snapping their bayonets on to charge the mob,
Grim Fusiliers broke ranks with glint of steel.
At last the boys had found a cushy job.
* * * * *
I heard the Yellow-Pressmen grunt and squeal;
And with my trusty bombers turned and went
To clear those Junkers out of Parliament.

The official (re)launch of a new memorial to the International Brigades will be taking place on the 8th November in Writers Square Belfast.

The memorial which will be erected close to the Trade Union run bar – The John Hewitt – has particular poignancy in Belfast, in that it celebrates those volunteers who overcame the sectarian tensions of the day to unite and fight against fascism in Spain.

To coincide with the launch Anto and Ger from Open Window Productions have produced a number of limited edition busts and plaques which will be avilable at the event. They can be viewed their new blog here

Can I take this opportunity to congratulate all those on the International Brigades Commemoration Committee to have worked long and hard to get this erected.

No Pasaran.

More info here

You can tell I’m frittering away the hours to day but I have to say I’m loving the story of Birobidzhan. In 1934 Stalin decided that Birobidzhan, an area five thousand miles east of Moscow, should become the national homeland of the jewish people within the Soviet Union. Establishing the Jewish Autonomous Region was part of the Kremlin’s plan to create an enclave where secular Jewish culture rooted in Yiddish and socialism could serve as an alternative to Palestine.

While I’ll confess to knowing very little of the details it appears quiet obvious that it was an absolute and unmitigated failure – however, to be honest, its the photos that fascinate me. Having visited several Kibbutzim recently I can’t get the images of fields without fences out of my head – maybe it something to do with this. Anyway I’d recommend pointing your clicker at the Meeting of Frontiers Home Page

Red brick in the suburb, white horse on the wall,
Italian marble in the grand city hall;
O stanger from England, why stand ye aghast?
May the Lord in his mercy be kind to Belfast.

We swore by King William, there’d never be seen
An all Ireland parliament at College Green
And at Stormont we’re nailing the flag to the mast.
May the Lord in his mercy be kind to Belfast.

This city that harbours our hopes and our fears
Was knocked up from the swamp in the last hundred years;
But the last shall be first and the first shall be last;
May the Lord in his mercy be kind to Belfast

The bricks they may bleed and the rain it may weep
And the damp Lagan fog lulls the city to sleep.
It’s to Hell with the future, we’ll live in the past
May the Lord in his mercy be kind to Belfast.

Reinstate Section 18: Join the campaign to allow unions to expel fascists