Saturday, March 30, 2019

Support Leyla Güven, support Kurdish hunger strikers - 5 have died in the past two weeks Global Women's Strike

Global Women's Strike<gws@globalwomenstrike.net>
Dear sisters and friends,
Leyla Güven, a democratically elected Kurdish MP to the Turkish parliament, started this hunger strike on 8 November 2018. Please visit the International Women's Initiative for Leyla Güven: https://speakupforleyla.org/ which has many international signatories and add yours. 
More signatures and calls are urgently needed to put pressure on the UK, EU and Turkish governments so lives can be saved. Thousands of Kurds and Turkish political prisoners are on hunger strike in Turkish prisons, the wider Middle East, and across the globe – including in the UK, with Imam Sis in Wales nearing his 100th day, and others joining more recently. Five humger strikers, including two women, have died in the past two weeks.
On 20 March the Welsh Assembly, in a debate lead by Plaid Cymru, voted to support the hunger strikers – the first parliament anywhere to do so.  (See their proposal and a letter published in the Guardian with many signatories below.)  
Many thanks,
Global Women’s Strike and Payday men’s network


WEDNESDAY 20 MARCH 2019
Plaid Cymru debate - The Kurds in Turkey
THE PROPOSAL WAS PASSED

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:
1. Notes that, whilst foreign affairs is a matter currently reserved to the UK Government and Parliament, Section 62 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 provides that “The Welsh Ministers, the First Minister and the Counsel General may make appropriate representations about any matter affecting Wales”.
2. Recognises the substantial Kurdish community in Wales.
3. Notes that a resident of Wales - İmam Sis, a young Kurdish man - is on an indefinite, non-alternating hunger strike as of 17 December 2018, which was initiated to protest the isolation of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan who has been imprisoned by Turkey since 1999 under conditions which are understood to contravene the Turkish state’s legal obligations in relation to human rights.
4. Notes that hunger strikes are taking place across Europe and the world, including by Leyla Güven, an elected member of the Turkish Parliament.
5. Notes that Turkey is a signatory to several international human rights treaties, including the European Convention of Human Rights as a member of the Council of Europe.
6. Expresses its concern at the reasons behind the hunger strikes.
7. Recognises that the ultimate aim of the hunger strikes is to see a peaceful, political solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey.
8. Affirms the importance that human rights obligations are upheld in Turkey.
9. Calls on the Welsh Government, on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales, to write to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment calling for the committee to visit Imrali Prison to assess the conditions of Abdullah Öcalan.
----------------------------------------
Leyla Güven, a democratically elected Kurdish MP to the Turkish parliament, has been on hunger strike for over 120 days and is nearing death. Her hunger strike calls for an end to the isolation of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. The leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) has been held mostly in solitary confinement by Turkey since 1999.
Over 300 Kurds are now on hunger strike in Turkish prisons, Kurdistan, Europe and North America. In Strasbourg, 14 Kurds have been on indefinite hunger strike since 17 December to pressure the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) to fulfil its duties and pay a visit to check on the situation of Öcalan. In Newport, Wales, Imam Sis has been on hunger strike since 17 December in Newport.
The international campaign for freedom for Öcalan and reconvening peace talks between the Turkish government and the PKK has been supported by the TUC, Jeremy Corbyn, Plaid Cymru, Mairead Maguire, Wole Soyinka, Desmond Tutu, Gerry Adams, Noam Chomsky, Professor Angela Davis and many others. Many believe that freedom for Öcalan is a precondition for a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish question in Turkey.  
We call upon the UK government to press the Turkish government to end the isolation of Öcalan.
Mark Campbell Co-Chair, Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign UK
Adam Price Leader, Plaid Cymru
Darren Williams Labour NEC and secretary, Welsh Labour Grassroots
Peter Hain Labour, House of Lords
Mark Serwotka President, TUC
Anthony Slaughter Leader, Wales Green party
Leanne Wood AM Plaid Cymru
Marianne Owens NEC, Public & Commercial Services Union
Cerith Griffiths Wales secretary, Fire Brigades Union
Amrit Wilson South Asia Solidarity Group
Lindsey German National convenor, Stop the War Coalition
Allison Hulmes National director, British Association of Social Workers Cymru
Osian Rhys Chair, Cymdeithas yr Iaith/Welsh Language Society

This is the current list of people who have signed the letter/statement -
Adam Price, Leader, Plaid Cymru
Anna McMorrin MP, Labour, Cardiff North
Darren Williams, Labour NEC and WEC Secretary, Welsh Labour Grassroots
Lord Peter Hain, Labour
Mark Serwotka, President, TUC
Leanne Wood AM, Plaid
Anthony Slaughter, Leader, Wales Green Party
Shavanah Taj, Public & Commercial Services Union National Officer
Marianne Owens, NEC, Public & Commercial Services Union
Lindsey German, National Convenor, Stop the War Coalition
Mark Campbell, Co-chair, Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign
Amrit Wilson, South Asia Solidarity Group
Jill Gough, National Secretary, CND Cymru
Professor Michael Lavalette, Liverpool Hope University
Allison Hulmes, National Director for Wales, British Association of Social Workers Cymru
Cerith Griffiths, Wales Secretary, Fire Brigades Union
Belinda Loveluck Edwards, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Labour, Vale of Glamorgan
Rhun Ap Iorweth AM, Deputy Leader, Plaid
Llyr Gruffyd AM, Plaid
Delyth Jewell AM, Plaid
Sian Gwenllian AM, Plaid
Helen Mary Jones AM, Plaid
Bethan Sayed AM, Plaid
Dr Dai Lloyd AM, Plaid
Osian Rhys, Cadeirydd, Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Chair, Welsh Language Society)
Dani Thomas, Co-ordinator DiEM25 Cymru
Emma Garson, Branch Secretary UNISON Cardiff County
Mike Jenkins, Writer, Co-editor, Red Poets
Jon Luxton, Labour, Mayor of Penarth (personal capacity)
Cllr Angela Thomas, Labour, Penarth Town Council
Cllr Ellie Evans, Labour, Penarth Town Council
Fflur Arwel, Co-Chair, Plaid Ifanc
Sioned Treharne, Co-Chair, Plaid Ifanc
Morgan Bowler-Brown, Treasurer, Plaid Ifanc
Maggie Simpson, vice chair, Wales Labour Grassroots
Sandy Clubb, Undod
Rhys Mills, Undod
Greg Cullen, Playwright, Shock n Awe Theatre Company
Dani Thomas, Co-ordinator DiEM25 Cymru
Ramon Corria, Secretary Communist Party of Britain, Cardiff Branch
Jenny Marie Charles, Wales Equality Alliance
Len Arthur, Left Unity Wales
Pete Wentland , Founder Calais Refugee Solidarity Bristol
Tim Evans, Secretary, Llanelli 1911 Rail Strike Commemoration Committee; Convenor, Swansea Live Poets Society
Dr Renata Medeiros-Mirra, Cardiff University
Professor Sue Williams, Visual Artist and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Fine Art & Media School, Swansea College of Art, UWTSD
Jane Harries, Cymru dros Heddwch/Wales for Peace
Sue Leader, Branch Secretary, Cardiff & Vale Unite Community
Alan Short, Branch Chair, Cardiff & Vale Unite Community
Dr Llion Wigley, Secretary, Cardiff Branch, Cymdeithas y Cymod (Fellowship of Reconciliation)
Elin Davies, YesCaerdydd
Richard Huw Morgan, YesPontypridd
Jonny Jones, Queen Mary UCU member
Neil Rogall UCU (retired member)
Derek Wall, Parish councillor Winkfield Berkshire
Geraldine O'Connell Warrington South CLP
Sandy Clubb, Undod (Radical Independence Campaign)
Rhys Mills, Undod (Radical Indepenence Campaign)
Ben Gwalchmai, Labour for Indy Wales
Christopher Roberts, Welsh Labour Representation Group
Pippa Bartolotti, Wales Green Party
Lotte Reimer,  Aberystwyth Peace and Justice Network
Nichola Davies, Caerphilly and Iswlyn Welsh Labour Grassroots
Helen Erasmus, Caerphilly and Islwyn Welsh Labour Grassroots
Annie Gwillym Walker islwyn CLP Crosskeys branch
Rob Hoveman, Unite the Community & Central European University
Dee Murphy, Swansea Palestine Community Link & Swansea Action for Palestine
Debbie Witts - senior designer at The Olive Grove Design Team, Cardiff
Sheila Jones, Unite Community member
Chris Gingell, Conservationist and humanitarian campaigner
Lyndsey Halliday, Cardiff Extinction Rebellion
Maggie Ravenscroft, Caerphilly and Islwyn WLG/Unite member
Geno Sulano, Welsh artist
Annie Gwillym Walker islwyn CLP Crosskeys branch
 Julie Dixon  Islwyn CLP
Dorian Dixon Islwyn CLP
Sandra Holliday, RCT Welsh Labour Grassroots
Jennifer Fletcher - Cardiff resident and international development worker/consultant
Mireille Escande de Messieres, Aberystwyth
Anna Monro, Pembrokeshire
Matt Rhys-Roberts, Wrexham
Linda Jensen, Cardiff
Cathy Wilson, Liverpool
Jackie Shellard, Bridgend
Jeff Hurford, Bridgend
Emily Trahair, Aberystwyth
Debbie Francis, Cardiff
Kristina Hedges, Cardiff
Anna Forster, Rhondda
Helen Pendry, Macynlleth 
Ken Barker, Cardiff
Sheelagh Llewellyn, Cardiff
Pat Gregory, Cardiff
Andy Chyba, Bridgend
Sian Gale, Cardiff
Jenny Howell, Cardiff
Sam Jenkins, Cardiff
Andree Morgan Andrews, Cardiff
Alice Shing, Cardiff
Emma Mato, Cardiff
Kirsty-Marie Jones, Cardiff
Madhu Khanna-Davies, Cardiff
Niki Adams, Legal Action for Women, London
Professor Bridget Anderson, University of Bristol
Heulwen Baworowska
Dr Gina Bridgeland
Sara Callaway, Women of Colour/Global women’s Strike, London
Margaretta D’Arcy, Raging Grannies, Ireland
Sian Evans, Global Women’s Strike, London
Eric Gjersten, Payday men's network, Philadelphia, US
David Gibson, Peacehome Campaign, US
Shona Guderson, US
Selma James, Global Women’s Strike, London
Michael Kalmanovitz, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network - UK
Dean Kendall, Phila, US
Michael A. Lebowitz, Canada
Lorry Leader, London
Joy Marcus, Guyana
Ben Martin, Payday men’s network, London
Cari Mitchell, English Collective of Prostitutes
Nina Lopez, Global Women’s Strike, London
Shoda Rackal, London
Giorgio Riva, Payday men’s network, London
Maggie Ronayne, author, The Cultural and Environmental Impact of Large Dams in Southeast Turkey, NUI, Galway, Ireland
Didi Rossi, Queer Strike, London
Georgie Stagg, SE London
David Swanson, Director, World BEYOND War, US
Sophia Vassilakidis, Texas, US  
Crissie Warren, Women of Colour/Global Women’s Strike, London
Women for Justice and Peace in Sri Lanka
Benjamin Zephaniah, poet, writer


***Writer's Corner- F. Scott Fitzgerald's "This Side Of Paradise"

Click on the headline to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for the great American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Book Review

This Side Of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Simon& Schuster, New York, 1920


There was a time when if I used the name of the 20th century American writer Ernest Hemingway it also almost always meant that name of the author under review, F. Scott Fitzgerald, would follow in the next breathe (and then John Dos Passos). At that time I placed Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” and Fitzgerald “The Great Gatsby” pretty closely together as exemplars of strong, non-nonsense writing styles and sparse but meaningful dialogue, along with a great narrative. “Gatsby” still certainly holds up. I find though , especially after re-reading this Fitzgerald first effort that put his name high up on the post-World War I literary scene, “This Side of Paradise”, that Hemingway has won the literary “battle” for the number one spot as the premier writer of that period. Strangely that period, “The Jazz Age” of the 1920s, is known as such in great part due to this book and is forever associated with Fitzgerald’s name.

As is to be expected from a first novel this book is very great indebted to the bits and pieces of autobiographical sketches that hold it together. And, moreover, is driven by the college exploits of the main and most developed character, Amory Blaine, at Fitzgerald’s alma mater, Princeton. The long and short of the story line is a very self-conscious attempt by Blaine , including plenty of now seemingly obscure literary references, to find out the mysteries of the meaning of life as a writer. That premise does not work so well in the college milieu that dominates the first part of the book. After all, many college students from time immemorial, from elite colleges and public universities alike, has thrashed over those questions, some successfully, some not.

What really made this book important (aside from a glimpse of “Jazz Age” manners, mores, styles and ennui) is the second part, after college and after Blaine had done military service during World War I in France (although the details of this service are only sketchily drawn). World War I acted a great divide for many of the men, and it was mainly men in those days, who suffered through it. The straight line, as the story line here details, from college to one’s proper place in the upper echelons of society got derailed, and not solely in Blaine’s case. This dislocation is mainly drawn out here as a spiritual crisis for Blaine but it also evoked class, sexual relations (almost all turning sour, for one reason or another), and life style. This is the heart of the book and the heart of Blaine’s (and Fitzgerald’s) dilemma: how to resolve the moral crisis within oneself without upsetting the social applecart that allows the wherewithal for such introspection.

What does not work here and what in the end makes this an unsatisfying work is Blaine’s rather vague and sudden attachment to some form of socialism near the end of the book. Although revolution was in the air and the great revolutionary efforts in Europe, including the seminal Bolshevik revolution in Russia, were in full blast for most of the book one would not know that things like the American government-driven Palmer Raids "red scare”, the split in the left-wing socialist movement in reaction to the American entry into the war and support of the Russian revolution, and the establishment of the American Communist Party were taking place. Blaine’s socialism is of a rather diluted sort, one suspects. Still this is a great first effort and if for no other reason that the display of Fitzgerald's' skill with language is worth reading, and re-reading.

On March 30, Confront the NATO War Machine & Defend Venezuela!



Action Network Email
On March 30, Confront the NATO War Machine & Defend Venezuela!
Action Network
Sent via Action Network, a free online toolset anyone can use to organize.Click here to sign up and get started building an email list and creating online actions today.
Action Network is an open platform that empowers individuals and groups to organize for progressive causes. We encourage responsible activism, and do not support using the platform to take unlawful or other improper action. We do not control or endorse the conduct of users and make no representations of any kind about them.
You can unsubscribe or update your email address or change your name and address by changing your subscription preferences here.