Imagine

John Lennon was killed thirty years ago today by Mark Chapman.
Lennon is one of my musical heroes. An icon. A voice of the political left. Not an academic, or an economist. Not involved in the bullshit of party politics. He simply expressed a sentiment shared by a large number of those of us on the Left, and he amplified it, because he had the means by which to do so. Musically, a true artist.

“Our society is driven by neurotic speed and force, accelerated by greed and the frustration of not being able to live up to the image of men and women we have created for ourselves – an image that has nothing to do with the reality of people.

“We’re one world, one people, whether we like it or not. We can pretend we’re divided into races and Countries, but the reality is that it is one World and it is one people”

There is no artist today who could manage to have their song sung in unison by thousands of people marching on Washington DC. Especially one from a little house in Liverpool.

Whatever you think of John Lennon’s music, it is necessary to say that he had a profound influence on music, and on the political left within the music industry. And The Beatles, along with The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, and The Who defined London in the 1960s. They made Abbey Road; a long, uninteresting road just north of St John’s Wood Tube Station, a cultural landmark. They massively influenced artists and bands popping up fifty years later. And Lennon outshone the other Beatles when they finally split. Even so far as the fact that the FBI kept tabs on him and President Nixon tried to have him deported because the White House believed Lennon might be a threat to the President’s re-election.

In order to help save John from being deported, Bob Dylan wrote a letter to the Immigration and Neutralisation Service, with:

John and Yoko add a great voice and drive to the country’s so-called art institution. They inspire and transcend and stimulate and by doing so, only help others to see pure light and in doing that, put an end to this dull taste of petty commercialism which is being passed off as Artist Art by the overpowering mass media. Hurray for John and Yoko. Let them stay and live here and breathe. The country’s got plenty of room and space. Let John and Yoko stay!

Our artists today, are a little too worried with upsetting their record label.

Imagine no religion.
Imagine no countries.
Imagine no greed or hunger.
Imagine no possessions.

One of a kind.
John Lennon
1940-1980

The assassination of the Left

“As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?” – Alexis De Tocqueville

I over heard two little old ladies discussing Obama, on the Bus a few days back. One said to the other ..”..he’ll be assassinated before long, all the good ones are…” . This statement got me thinking.

According to The Telegraph, last year; “Security surrounding Barack Obama has been stepped up amid fears he could be an assassination target“. So the threat is there.

As I watched the Inauguration, the preposterous thought lingering at the back of my mind as the motorcade (As i’m sure it did with many people watching that day) made it’s way down Pennsylvania Avenue, was “If he gets out of that car, he could be killed“. He got out. He lived. I was clearly being a little over paranoid.

However, if you’d have asked people on November 22nd 1963, if they thought the President could be so easily killed, they’d have laughed at you too. They’d have claimed it ridiculous to even consider. And even afterwards, the blaming of such a colossal historical event such as the Kennedy Assassination is widely blamed on one crazed man, despite an incredible amount of evidence pointing to the contrary.

Strong Left Wing characters on the World stage with deep influence do not last very long. John Kennedy was one of many which to date includes Robert Kennedy, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Ghandi, John Lennon, Fidel Castro (who despite being alive, has been the subject of many plots), Che Guevara, and half the establish Left wing of Chile. It’s something even the late comedian Bill Hicks picked up on. Especially when it comes to Kennedy, there could not be more evidence to suggest a connection to people like E.Howard Hunt (who even admitted his involvement in the assassination) Who was also involved in the removal of the Left wing government of Guatamala, Che’s death and in Watergate. It seems that when the Left wing becomes pretty powerful, the Left Wing pays the price. Do I believe it’s one big right winged conspiracy? No. Not at all. I believe that when the power of the rich becomes threatened, they act to protect themselves. Who do I believe the Kennedy assassination can be largely attributed to? Lyndon Johnson. It’s all about power, it’s all about money.
Unfortunately for the Kennedy conspirators… they didn’t count on a film of the event taking place that day. Nor did they count on Hunt being identified pretty conclusively by a Photographer that day. They should also be slamming their heads into the wall over the ridiculous notion that a gangster like Jack Ruby shot Oswald purely because he “felt for Jackie and the kids“.
Having read the Warren Commission’s report all the way through a couple of times, and having likewise read the Hutton Enquiry’s report into the death of Dr David Kelly over here in England, it’s not very long before you come to the conclusion that a Commission’s Report will never tell the entire truth.

A man named David Sanchez Morales, who is somewhat of a legend in CIA circles, who colleagues have claimed “if you see him walking down the street in a foreign country, then you know a coup is about to take place”… is quoted as saying to a friend and reporter in 1973; “I was in Dallas when we got the son of a bitch and I was in Los Angeles when we got the little bastard.” The evidence is overwhelming in that if they want to, the powers that be can eliminate the President of the United States and his brother, and get away with it.

So based on the logic, is it possible that President Obama could be assassinated? Yes… based on the fact that he’s clearly left wing and i’m not sure if America is ready to accept such a President for very long. I’m not suggesting that those who disagree as strongly as many do with him, are all out to see him dead, not at all. Like those of us who hated George Bush, we did not want to see him killed. We wanted to see him democratically removed from Office. Likewise, the majority of those who disagree strongly with President Obama want to see him removed Democratically and peacefully. But there will be those, who do not care for such notions.
Capping the wages of guys at the Companies who demanded bail out money; although a fantastic and much needed move, was also incredibly dangerous.
Princeton University professor of Political Science, Melissa Harris-Lacewell stated that ” “For many black supporters, there is a lot of anxiety that he will be killed. It is on people’s minds.“. The fact that he is Black is much less of a fear for those of us who like Obama, than it is that he’s a Left Winger. His ideology presents the most problematic of dilemmas.

The Hindustan Times referred to President Obama as the “biggest ever assassination target in US History“. I think that’s true. His skin colour is one thing, but mix that together with his ideology and he’s easily the biggest target for assassination that has ever stepped foot in the White House.

Now, i’m in no way claiming to hero worship either Kennedy brother. They were both a little bit dodgy to say the least. But as ideologies go, I relate to them. Much as I do to Obama.

The fact is, if the unthinkable were to happen and Obama were to be injured or worst still, killed, regardless who committed the act, it would be blamed on White Supremacists. The Kennedy assassination was blamed on an Anti-Castro lone gunman. The RFK Assasination was blamed on a disgruntled Palestinian.

Whatever the truth may be in these cases, the public will never know. We will never know why people heard shots coming from the Grassy Knoll. We will never know why a man had an umbrella opened on a sunny day. We will never know why a tramp was arrested who looked like Howard Hunt and the interview that took place between the police chief and the tramp was never recovered. We will never know why Oswald chose to say “I’m just the patsy“. We will never know why Jack Ruby killed Oswald. But we have our own minds. We can look at the evidence, and we can use our common sense to come to our own conclusions. I conclude that Kennedy was killed because Johnson was a little bit too ambitious. I conclude that RFK and Martin Luther King were killed because they threatened the status quo. I conclude that if Obama is killed, it’s because agents for hope and change, even including President Lincoln, do not last too long in Politics.

Perhaps i’m wrong. Perhaps the 1960s was such a turbulent decade. Perhaps those who wanted such powerful change both economically and on the issue of civil rights, were ahead of their time. Perhaps they were easy targets. Perhaps the threat of Communism was such a worry that anyone with Left Wing values were considered a threat. Perhaps those days of such malicious undercover CIA operations is over. Perhaps Obama has inherited such a financial mess, and such a hated ex-President, that that fact alone will keep him safe. Let’s hope so.

Two political rants in one.

Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. – US Federal Bureau of Investigation

“Have I Got News For You” this week showed the clip of George W Bush having that now infamous shoe threw at him in Iraq last week. The BBC Audience cheered and clapped in admiration for the man who did it. It goes to show the deep tide of hatred toward the most powerful terrorist in the World.

Rightwingbob.com, a dreadfully ignorant Republican blogger writes “if, as is being suggested in the media, this shoeless journalist is being “hailed a hero in the Arab world,” then it just highlights some serious problems in that culture.”
- I wonder, could right wing Bob be so seriously out of touch with not only the Arab World, but the rest of the Civilised World. Should the Journalist have shook Bush’s hand? Bowed to him? “Thank you oh great one, our children are dying in a shower of American bombs and my wife is in ten different pieces across our destroyed house…. but hey, we’re a Democracy now, so it’s all worth it!” Get a fucking grip.

It worried me when it happened, that i’d be the only one who thought “good!! If only it’d have hit him” given that all the Conservative papers (The Mail in particular) called it “inconsiderate”. The Mail went on to explain that the Journalist who threw the shoe had an opportunity to ask important questions about what we used to call American Foreign Policy and what has become known, throughout the Republican reign of terror as “American Imperialism” and that he blew it, in a mindless act of violence. I’m sorry, but when editor of the Mail’s family have been needlessly blown to pieces, invaded, destroyed, for no real reason, i’d like to see him face the Terrorist who did it and ask him an important Political question. It’s pathetic. If the past eight years has taught me anything, it’s that the word “Terrorist” is disasterously intriguing. If in it’s most definable terms, it means “one who causes terror”, then I struggle to find a reason why the Bush administration are not the most horrific terrorists to ever grace the Planet. “Terrorist” seems to apply only to those who want revenge for Western aggression. Bush, ingeniously refers to these people as “those who hate our freedoms”….. They don’t hate our freedoms. They couldn’t care lesss if I start up my own business or not. They hate being abused. They hate being seen as an American resource. I think humanity, particularly Western Humanity, for all it’s benefits, has lost touch with human decency, and become way too interested in the material side of life.

Anyone who causes needless deaths on a grand scale, be them Muslim Extremists, or American imperialists, are terrorists. Let’s quit pretending otherwise. A 2006 Washington Post study, estimated that 655,000 innocent Iraqi civilians had died since the War began in 2003. You have to start asking yourself, as a human being, have too many people died? Can anything be worth such a high number of deaths? How do you justify so many deaths? How many will need to die before the Bush Administration is investigated for crimes against humanity? Is it ok that over half a million innocent Iraqi civilians have died, because we’re Western, and somehow above those laws that come down on anyone who isn’t? By their own standards, by the FBIs standards, by anyone who has a heart’s standards, the Bush Administration are the most dangerous group of Terrorists on the planet. There comes a time when people living in civilised societies have to be thinking that no one else needs to die.

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Something somewhere within the system has gone terribly wrong when TV adverts exclaim with vengeance “Benefit thieves, we’re closing in on you”, and yet the World’s top financiers can get away with the most despicable display of greed imaginable leading to one huge global financial mess. Of course, it’s just another wondrous product of the Thatcher/Regan “What’s in it for me?” years. A Conservative legacy of greed that considers single mums who “cheat” the benefit system in order to help feed their children – criminals, and considers those earning upwards of £1million, who also swindle the system in order to be able to afford a new yaht – “successful”. Morally, there is something drastically wrong with a system like that. It masks itself manipulatively under the phrase “rewarding hard work”.

This whole business with Madoff for example, I cannot imagine that Santander and other such groups who invested with Madoff, didn’t know what was happening. It stinks of corporate greed across the board. Not just Madoff. The Securities and Exchange Commission, the US Financial Regulatory body were warned about this, ten years ago. They seem to have ignored it.
It is being referred to as “the world’s biggest pyramid scheme”. I cannot imagine that Santander, HSBC, Nomura RBOS and all the other huge financial centres who invested with Madoff didn’t know what was going on. It seems they were benefitting, so it was ok. The moment there’s a bit of trouble, they all seem to plead ignorance. I do not believe they are the innocent victims in this.

As you can tell, i’m becoming increasingly alarmed with the state of the Western World. With the ideal that the free markets work magic, that greed is human nature (it isn’t by the way), and that Bush may very well live the rest of his life, in a tranquill surrounding, with his family, whilst the 655,000+ deaths he ordered, continue to pain the families of the victims.
It comforts me, albeit in the worst possible way, to know that i’m not like these money hungry, fear mongering “people” to know that if I had the power, he’d be in Guantanamo right now. The one thing that a Right Winged, War loving, profit masturbating, selfish Government can be thanked for, is that they provoke so much hatred, so much anger, that groups of Humanitarians, Liberals, and Free Thinkers pop up across the planet, in protest, to show the decent side of Humanity. We get blessed with the Bob Dylan’s and the John Lennon’s inspiring a generation to say “enough is enough”. Is 655,000 deaths and the entire Capitalist economic system who’s innocent workers trying to pay off their mortgage and feed their kids, worth it though?

No.
One death wouldn’t be worth it.