Yesterday was International Women's Day and one or two things caught my eye while window shopping on sites such the BBC and Bella Caledonia. Most interesting to those of us who seek self-determination for Scotland and her people was this article on the BBC from October 2013 which saw a surge in readership, perhaps due to IWD. Is it just a co-incidence that small nations perform better in areas of equality?
Top of the pile is wee Iceland - with a population roughly the same as the city of Aberdeen. So much for Alistair 'Black Dwarf' Darling's moaning about Scotland being 'too small' to do all sorts of things.
Also interesting is that a country such as Ireland, where a significant number of people still adhere to the teachings of the Catholic church, can leave behind shameful episodes like the Magdalene Laundries scandal and move forward. While abortion rights are still a major issue in Ireland, it's good to see auld Eirinn recognised here. As more Irish people lose their Catholic superstitions in years to come, it can only be expected that Ireland makes more progress on gender equality.
Overall gender gap
Europe has seven countries in the top 10. The UK is 18th and the
US is 23rd.The Philippines, at fifth, is the highest ranking Asian
nation and Nicaragua is the highest-placed country from the Americas, at
10th.
The G20 group of leading industrial nations has no representative in the top 10, nor do the Middle East or Africa.
Top countries
1. Iceland 2. Finland 3. Norway 4. Sweden 5. Philippines
6. Ireland7. New Zealand 8. Denmark 9. Switzerland 10. Nicaragua
Also, was this piece on Bella by bana-Ghaidheal Mary Ann Kennedy touching on issues such as bilingualism and the fear of change.
The Gaelic angle on independence and women brings to mind the bana-bhàrd of the crofters during the Clearances, Màiri Mhòr nan Oran. Her songs are still popular though some lines such as that which calls for the 'Sasannaich' to be cleared from native Skye may make some sing it through gritted teeth. A brave woman who was ahead of her time.
This finally leads on to the Poison Girls and their singer Vi Subversa. Noted for their quirky and jazzy punk on the Crass label, Poison Girls were every bit as political as Màiri Mhòr though the satire was a bit closer to the bone and the language a bit more colourful. Think of NoMeansNo with Elaine C Smith on vocals and out of her head on acid.
From the Basque Country, a famous tune is plagiarised and young and old celebrate their Basque culture, old and new. Members of Hesian and other Euskal artists included. No cringing here!
From MocaTV, an insight into the art of Crass. It's maybe worth mentioning that Gee Vaucher's role in the collective and considerable contributions to Crass' output isn't covered in sufficient depth. Go here for more. Now you know where Banksy got his ideas.
Iron Lady with your stone heart so eager that the lesson be taught
That you inflicted, you determines, you created, you ordered -
It was your decision to have those young boys slaughtered.
Reincarnation may appear to be fantasy, unless of course Buddhists are referring to constant recycling of atoms from past lives that make up our present being. It may seem as if our present London government has ingested the atoms and spirit of Fred West or Harold Shipman but we're gonna have to bide our time for them to surface.
Thatcher will be dust and ash by the time this hits the net but her spores have been active since the dark years of her reign.
Her most notable legacy is the underclass that her policies created. But how has the arrogance, bloodlust, elitism and poshboy/ city slicker swagger been reincarnated?
Firstly, it must be that special relationship. Cameron and the soft Republican that is Barrack Obama can only dream of getting deep down and dirty like Thatch and Reagan...
Google street view works in hindsight.
She even managed to tug Labourso far to the right that they have their tongues up UKIP's sheuch.
"Oh Anthony... you came quicker than Ronnie."
Even the great white hope of Labour's Presbyterian wing had 'a meeting of the minds'.
An Old Testament kind of fling.
Unfortunately, Jimmy had got in there first...
"Your morgue or mine?"
And then it's on to her many god-children, such as...
Jeremy Clarkson
...and...
Mumfart and sons.... the original is even more horrific.
...and, worse of all, here in North Britain that likes to think of itself as a Tory-free-zone...
"The poor want something for nothing?"
Bearing in mind though that death is no laughing matter - unless you happen to be Rupert Murdoch and your favourite woman's government has sunk and killed a boatload of young Argentine conscripts in what amounts to a warcrime - then here's a picture of some people dressed in black:
How does it feel to be the mother of a thousand dead?
Young boys rest now, cold graves in cold earth.
How does it feel to be the mother of a thousand dead?
Sunken eyes, lost now; empty sockets in futile death.
Your arrogance has gutted these bodies of life,
Your deceit fooled them that it was worth the sacrifice.
Your lies persuaded people to accept the wasted blood,
Your filthy pride cleansed you of the doubt you should have had.
You smile in the face of the death cause you are so proud and vain,
Your inhumanity stops you from realising the pain
That you inflicted, you determines, you created, you ordered -
It was your decision to have those young boys slaughtered.
You never wanted peace or solution,
From the start you lusted after war and destruction.
Your blood-soaked reason ruled out other choices,
Your mockery gagged more moderate voices.
So keen to play your bloody part, so impatient that your war be fought.
Iron Lady with your stone heart so eager that the lesson be taught
That you inflicted, you determines, you created, you ordered -
It was your decision to have those young boys slaughtered.
Fortunately, Scotland remains a Jubilee-frei zone save for two street parties in parts of Edinburgh that could be described as 'middle-class English ghettos' and where people tend to pronounce words like 'clear' as 'klee-ah'. Add to that, some Orange Order events in Glasgow that have been subsidised by the local, newly vibrant yet still stuck in the pastLabour Party - "we like things just the way they are, thanks" - and that more or less is the sum of things.
On the face of things, its been good year for Tories and Unionists to 'celebrate' their Britishness - not just the Queen's expensive shindig but the whole Team GB facade to give us something else to 'unite around'. There's also been the righteous indignation at Argentina making headway on re-gaining the Malvinas. On the downside, bankrupt Britain's debt continues to grow and the mother of fuckups parliaments in Lon-done continues to be mired in sleaze and corruption.
So, here's some art, starting above with Gee Voucher's classic 'Sex Pistols' montage for the Crass release Christ - The Album . That surely has be followed up by a re-visit to Laibach's excellent rendition of GSTQ in the form of 'Anglia'.
Am not sure of the original source of this but... who would've thunk it? Royal Family links to Nazis and Germans!
It also transpired that some awrslicker academics in Glasgow managed to superimpose the Queen's head onto a grain of rice or something of that ilk. The Japanese have done one better than that though. They've produced the world's first Royal Wankmachine. Why waste energy choking yon Bishop of Canterbury when the Queen can give you 'head' so to speak...
Er... sorry. I forgot that in the days of that Queen, Great Britain was a land of huge disparity between rich and poor, ruled by rich Eton-educated white men.
Our shops are decked in red, white and blue. The colours of the royal wedding and Old Firm mail bombers who profess loyalty to the Queen but refuse her law. As Scotland enters the final week of an election which looks like it could deliver a joint SNP-Green administration and with it, a referendum on independence, the plebes are given a day off. Grate Britain is bankrupt but on top of another military enterprise abroad where we bomb another oil-rich nation we can afford to splurge on the weddingof an Anglo-Hellenic-Germanic prince and his posh bit of fluff.
How soon before the royal couple grace the floor on the Royal Strictly Come or ITV screen I'm An Inbred, Get Me Out of Here! where chinless aristo types eat lichen and dungbeetles on the banks of Lochnagar? If not them, then their kids. That's for sure.
Turn off the telly on Friday and watch some other anthems....
Laibach - Anglia
So you still believe you're ruling the World,
Using all your tricks to keep the picture blurred.
Scatter your enemies, confound their politics,
So you still believe you're ruling the world...
God save your gracious Queen,
Long live your noble Queen.
God save your gracious Queen,
God save you all!
So you still believe you're superior,
And all other nations are inferior,
Any sedition hushed, rebellious Scots crushed,
So you still believe you're superior,
God save your gracious Queen,
Long live your noble Queen.
God save your gracious Queen,
God save you all!
So you still pretend you're ruling the World,
Using all your tricks to keep the picture blurred...
So you still pretend you're ruling the World,
Using all your tricks to keep the picture blurred...
Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
God save the queen cos tourists are money
and our figurehead is not what she seems
Oh god save history god save your mad parade
Oh lord god have mercy all crimes are paid
Finally, here's Kunt and the Gang once again. Share the love...
Even if you can't read Scottish, you know what it means. Our complacency broken, its time to roll out the anti-nuclear power campaigns again.
Once in generation it seems as if we have a major nuclear accident. One too many. And even if these major accidents are few and far between - low level radioactive leakage seems to be regular and the cost to the taxpayer of subsidising nuclear power is enormous. Then there's the question of what to do with the waste. I remember Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight with his trademark incredulous frown asking the then chair of British Nuclear Fuels if he was 'seriously proposing that we bequeath to our grandchildren tonnes of radioactive junk'.
Generations are often marked by their tunes. So, where are all the anti-nuclear power tunes? Nuke war has got a few. But atomic energy? Well, perhaps my 5 minutes of half-hearted research wasn't thorough enough but I managed to dig up a few examples - all from the 80s it seems. And all from the 'anarcho-punk' genre. The anarchist strand of punk music didn't quite change the world but its impact was to be seen in movements such as CND - given the kiss of life by Crass - and the animal rights movement. Unfortunately for some, it was also the mother of all chastity belts. The Pope would've been proud. No condoms needed as adolescents were consumed by marching for CND and against vivisection, reading veggie cookbooks, squatting and latterly by getting filthy and growing dreadlocks. Though this was mostly by those who later graduated to a job in banking. Sex was viewed with frustrated suspicion - maybe it was 'sexist' to chat someone up?
Anyway, Edinburgh's anarchos Oi Polloi seemed to shout most about nuclear power. Songs like Resist the Atomic Menace, No Filthy Nuclear Power and Go Green provided a soundtrack for protest trips to Torness to rage against nuclear power stations that Labour gave us before they opposed them before they advocated them again.
Loanhead based noise-merchants AOA also got in on the act with their split LP with Oi Polloi. AOA also came from an area where the miners' strike was at the heart of the community. Today it may seem as if environmental activists and 'spokespersons' all speak with the same kind of Oxbridge accent. AOA weren't of that ilk.
Flux of Pink Indians emerged out of the Crass-inspired wave of punk. They were responsible for memorable anthems such as Tube Disaster but also for the weird and pretentious, though superbly titled, 'The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks'. Flux later produced the Buddhist-inspired 'Uncarved Block' on their own Little Indian label which also gave us the likes of Bjork and the Shamen. Here though is their own anti-atomic anthem.
Lastly is Discharge. Again, very influential - certainly on thrash metal bands such as Metallica and Sepultura. Lyrically, they are best described as 'uncomplicated' and 'straight to the point' though 'repetitive' may also be apt. They definitely had a bee in their bonnet regarding things nuclear though to be honest, war was by far their biggest bugbear. 'The Possibility of Life's Destruction' is open to interpretation though. Here are the lyrics. All of them.
Can you hear the sound of an enormous door slamming in the depths of hell
The possibility of life's destruction
Can you hear the cries of pain the mournful sound
At present, Scotland's SNP minority administration government is committed to making Scotland nuclear free. Should the election in May see the uninspiring former radical Iain Gray become first minister as head of a Labour-lead government, then Scotland could once again become a nuclear dustbin.
Lets face it, the auld pagan tradition of Winter Solstice was usurped by those with a fancy for a Middle-Eastern version of the ancient death/ re-birth belief. Some would argue that we return Xmas to its original roots by sacrificing a lamb or two to ensure that springtime will return. Far be it for me to suggest that Nick Clegg or the newly evil Vince Cable get flung on the fire but for starters, how about joining in the traditionally crass and consumerist effort to get your fave song to Number One?
To have a chance, the chosen song should be downloaded from I-Tunes or the Wikileaks hating Amazon in the week starting December 13th.
Coming up close - a pun that would delight Knut - is Kunt and the Gang with the Nick Clegg Story. Facebook page here.
And lastly, a long shot maybe, but my transferable vote goes to the auld punk classic Banned from the Roxy by punk legends Crass. Fouled-mouthed anger from 1978 that paved the way for a whole raft of DIY politics, art and philosophy. Buy it here and leave a comment supporting Wikileaks. Sing along to the lyrics here. Here's Crass frontman Steve Ignorant leading the carol singing at Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms recently.
This December, let's keep Christ out of Xmas and indulge in some pagan consumerism.
Do they think guitars and microphones are just fucking toys?
Ex-Crass frontman and Irvine Welsh lookalike Steve Ignorant brings the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to support him on vocal duties at Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms. Its The Last Supper and hundreds of balding paunchy middle-aged punks bounce and scream along with 'screaming babies, shaved women collaborators...'. And it looks like Steve is trying to stifle a grin.
Comparisons with Teddy Boy conventions are easy. This however brings back all kinds of vivid memories of the time - the early 1980s. A dark age that it seems will soon be revisited upon us by the new twin-headed ConDem Thatcher of Cameron-Clegg. In 1984, Crass finished their career by closing their set at a striking miners' benefit gig in Wales with the song 'Do They Owe Us a Living?' and by revising their pacifist views in the face of increasingly brutal state attacks on both striking miners and Stonehenge hippies. At the time, I was a young teenager who travelled to Hearts' games on a supporters bus half full of striking miners from one of Midlothian's pit villages. At a time when local communities were fighting against Thatchers' cops, the black communities in inner-city England were doing the same and everyone from Crass to the BBC film Threads warned of impending nuclear annihilation, the chances were that this stuff would shape your life.
Crass were and still are an institution. They lived the real message of punk - Do It Yourself. They had no or little truck with managers, record companies, promoters etc and relied on themselves and a network of ordinary people to propagate their 'music' and message. As far as punk music goes, this aint Green Day. Yet, despite the absence of nice tunes, major record company and professional distribution networks, their debut album 'Feeding the 5000' went gold. They were more than a band - they were a collective that produced music, artwork, anarchist propaganda, political pranks that saw the Whitehouse, Westminster and Kremlin involved and spawned thousands of imitators. They kicked started the dormant CND movement and gave new energy to issues such as feminism, animal rights and anarchism. In contrast to the simplistic nihilism of other but still relevant punk groups of the time, Crass became seen as po-faced and were followed with an almost religious zeal by some.
This lead to Crass influenced bands berating others for not following the 'true path' of the DIY punk ethic. Chumbawamba threw paint over Joe Strummer because his CBS record label were a subsidiary of an arms dealer. Chumbawamba then signed to EMI - another company with dirty fingers in dirty pies. Chumbawamba did though distribute much of their fee to local community groups. Chumbawamba in turn were criticised by other bands such as Oi Polloi - who in turn neglect the DIY ethic and use Rupert Murdoch's MySpace, though unlike Chumbawamba, have no money to show for it. Should people still care about these baw-hair issues? Or should we just stop pretending to care and accept imperfections, especially in well-intentioned individuals?
Whatever, thousands of middle-aged men and women who may not still clad themselves in black are still living the ideals of Crass. They are still involved in challenging independent music, they are nurses, they are teachers, artists, bicycle engineers, they fight against racism and for diversity, they learn and use minority languages, they open up animal sanctuaries, get involved in community land buy-outs, reject the shackles of religion, involve themselves in community education, write real investigative journalism and much more. The roots may be anarchist, socialist and libertarian but there's more sustainable enterprise come from this movement than anything our bankrupt and corrupt financial institutions and MPs have inspired.
But back to the Last Supper... there was also irony in songs that are more than 30 years old such as 'Banned from the Roxy' still being relevant today. In the week when all of Scotland's main parties presented the London government with their case for retaining the manufacture of aircraft carriers in Scotland, we can only wish that these politicians had Crass' simple - but not incorrect - message drummed into their skulls:
"Defence? Shit, its nothing less than war, and no-one but the government knows what the fuck its for".
Likewise, the anti-war anthems 'Sheep Farming in the Falklands' and 'Mother of a Thousand Dead' could easily apply to today's perma-war adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The influence of Crass is far reaching. Bjork, the Shamen and One Little Indian Records. Artwork and ideals for Tackhead. Banksy can be seen in the pre-Photoshop collages of Crass' graphic artist Gee Voucher. Even smooth crooner Sade was a friend. In recent years both David Beckham and Angelina Jolie have been photographed in their t-shirts. Ironic too as Crass never produced any of their own merchandise though obviously others lined their pockets with the symbol that shows the snake of capitalism eating itself.
There was plenty of merchandise on sale last night though. Crass polos, T-shirts and a new autobiography of Steve himself. Times change though and ideals can mellow without being forgotten. In 'The Story of Crass', Steve talks about one typically vicious tirade that he wrote as an angry idealistic punk rocker in which he talked of how parents fuck you up. Years later, he regretted this after seeing his folks through mature eyes as just two ordinary working class human beings who tried their best. If Steve Ignorant makes some kind of living out of this tour, then good.
Also, was this piece on Bella by bana-Ghaidheal Mary Ann Kennedy touching on issues such as bilingualism and the fear of change.
