Operation Post-it

Recently I stumbled upon this website, OperationBeautiful.com. The site is just a place where people send in pictures of encouraging messages about body image written on post-it notes in public places. A simple, yet wonderful idea. To many the messages may seem stupid and pointless but to the less cynical it can bring a smile to your face. Hell, making someone smile is a great thing to do even if you don't see it. A smile can brighten up your whole day and a little nice message can make you feel great.

I feel this is a wonderful idea and I encourage you to follow it and do your own nice messages. Yet I feel as though this idea has a greater scope and can be utilized to a greater power. If we were to put simple notes on advertising reminding people it was not necessary for happiness we could make at least some people think briefly about what they truly value. If there were messages of dissent about the banking system on cash points it would remind people of why we need to be angry.

Now before I go too far I want to set out now that I know simple post it notes will not bring down corrupt systems or change peoples lives but one message could start a person thinking. Thought is a powerful thing. Once an idea is implanted that resonates within a persons soul it can snowball with the person reading into the ideas more. It's simple really. If there are no messages then an idea cannot spread. One message has little power but many messages spread around can start to have an impact. Try posting messages with links to websites explaining thoughts in more detail. Alas this is not necessary, simply messages can help.

Props to Operation Beautiful, it is a lovely thing they are doing and I feel we need to remind people not to hate on themselves for being who they are. Positive body image is a great thing and people need to be reminded just how amazing our bodies actually are. I think the post-it idea is a wonderful, none evasive, legal way to spread none mainstream ideas easily.

I may start posting pictures of stuff I do. If it goes well it might become a regular(ish) thing.
A short post today I know and there is a lot of more pertinent news around but fuck it.

Stay alert, Stay free, Stay beautiful!

We're Fucking Angry

I think I'm going to add a new dimension to this blog because I'll be honest, I find it therapeutic to write but sometimes I can't be arsed with researching and doing serious posts. Alas I don't want to stray from the base feel of the blog. Basically the credentials of protest music as a force for change is iffy at best but it's always nice to have something to will you on through the struggles and hell I love music! So with this in mind I think I'm going to start doing reviews of protest music that I enjoy. Now I have literally no credentials as a critic but fuck it, in the words of dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip "It's just rhythms and rhymes and melodies in time".

So yeah here it goes!

Today I'm going to go over the album Punk and Poetry by The King Blues. Now I'm going to admit I'm very new to this band but I have fallen in love with them. I found them via a Youtube video posted on an anti-cuts facebook group and well it was one of those moments when you know you are going to love a band. Recently I saw them at Download, they were in a tented stage and let me tell you, they tore that place up!

So let me begin... (click the titles to hear the song)

Last Of The Dreamers
An epic intro track. The synths and drum beat really build up the album and Itch (vocals) shows exactly where this album is headed. With lines such as "For the romantic killer that’s never been caught" and "For the pedophile suppressing his urges" it's obvious this album is going to be nothing if not controversial. Short and straight to the point.

We Are Fucking Angry
With a title like that you know this song isn't going to skirt around the issues. The end of the previous track crescendos out and this track brings you crashing down to earth with a meaty drum intro which gets the blood flowing. The synth in this song along with a heavy drum beat and distorted guitars really works well on this track, it raises up the anger in you and gets you ready to fight. The whole song is almost like a soundtrack to the Millbank and various other London riots. This is the first song I heard by The King Blues and I highly recommend giving it a listen. The lyrics also do not disappoint, they are powerful and easy to relate to. They serve to pick apart the current coalition government and give a voice to the anti-cuts movement. With cries of "We are fighting back and we are fucking angry" you really get the sense of desperation and anger on the demonstrations and the awakening of a group of, before apathetic, students to power struggles is summed up in the line "France, Spain, Greece we're joining you finally our time has come". There is so much good about this song that I can't sum it up in a small segment, I recommend just giving it a listen and checking out the lyrics from full impact, I assure you you wont be disappointed.

Set The World On Fire
A slightly lighter song this time around. The fury is let up from the music resulting in what I'm risking calling almost pop punk. An obvious single here with a nice radio friendly sound. With a slightly calmer sound one would be forgiven in thinking Itch would've softened up on the lyrical front but this is far from the truth. With an onslaught on the capitalist agenda as a whole this song turns burning the world down into something that sounds dangerously mainstream. With issues such as Israel, the media and plastic surgery raised this is far from brainless rock and it even gives us a little encouragement, "Fight the power? Man, we are the power!". A great single track.

Dancehall
A bizarre little number this one, a nice short poem over a nice little tune. I don't know what it is but I have a soft spot for this one.

The Future's Not What It Used To Be
A nice relaxed ska feel to this one. The brass section on this eases you in and the slow beat couple with the bass line really puts you in a chilled mood. A chilled out chorus of "Woah the future's not what it used to be" makes you feel almost as though it's all lost, giving this song a less optimistic feel. However things change at around 2:20 were the song suddenly takes a more sinister tone building up to an explosion of almost drum and bass at 2:30. A real curve ball this high energy section doesn't last long before returning back to the more chilled sounds of before but it is long enough to get into with shouts of "war" repeated many times it will get you up and jumping. A very good song overall, one of my favorites off the album.

I Want You
Another more pop punk song on the albums line up. A simple love song, I Want You will not fail to put a smile on your face. A very cute song with some more poignant lines such as "[I want you] like a Palestine wants to be free" and "I want you like the people want to see change, I want you like the government want us the same". Generally a very happy song with a tinge of political thought sprinkled on top.

5 Different Bottles Of Shampoo
A truly epic track this one. I can't really find a way to describe this track properly. A simple backing track boosts up what is live an Acapella performance. The track charts Itch's thoughts about women, a powerful message of respect and admiration that should be instilled in all young mens hearts. Check this track out for yourself and see what I mean.

Sex Education
The tone of the album suddenly changes again when you are lead into this song with a vocal lead of "sex, sex, sex". At first I was put off by this song due to this aspect but the song is much deeper then that. An exploration of the sexualisation of the youth through pornography and the damage that it beings. This is explored with lines such as "It weren't his mum that enlightened this lad, it was 'Indiana Bones and the Temple of Poon'". Itch explores how the internet's generation's view of what is normal in sex has been distorted due to the ease of access to porn. An interesting song.

Shooting Fascists
Another short but sweet song here. The use of the ukulele gives this song a sweet sound which is in contrast to the lyrics telling of how "Grandad didn't vote for Fascists, he shot 'em down".

Headbutt
Hitting in straight away with punky guitars and a hard drum intro this is like a love song coupled with a punch to the face. Some synth and piano add wonderfully to this song, especially in the breakdown where the piano comes into it's own. The lyrics are fresh and tell of romance in our age, "when she kissed me it felt like a headbutt". A nice song with nice lyrics.

Does Anybody Care About Us
Another song born out of the anti-cuts movement. This song is a call to arms, "Is anybody gonna fight back?". The song plays on the betrayal felt by the young affect by the education cuts and the violent crack downs by the police, "we bear the scars from you're cuts". A good song and this really does display the down right dissolution felt by many of the youth of today.

Everything Happens For A Reason
A softer song than the majority of the album, this song has an almost radio friendly sound. Less political than the majority of the album but that doesn't mean it lacks the same heart. An autobiographical song telling the story of Itch and his partner having a baby. You can feel how personal this song is and it is quite moving. Lyrics such as "My mum gave me the best advice that I'd ever had, she said if you're gonna be a dad just don't be like you're dad", "She was scared and worried, we might of lost it all" and "I realized for the first time that I'd become a man" really send chills down your spine. A beautiful song I really recommend you check it out.

Overall the album is wonderful and contains powerful lyrics that can really get you thinking. It's just let down by tracks like Shooting Fascists that, while enjoyable, do feel like filler. The lyrics are very fresh it just feels as though maybe a little bit more time spent on the album could have negated the need for filler and made this album even better. Don't get me wrong I do love this album, it's often on repeat, just maybe removing some filler and maybe even adding the Holiday single would have helped.

Now a common criticism of this album is that it is not punk enough. Now while it is easy to point out that the song is not harsh on the whole I don't feel it is enough to not call this album punk. The punk movement was a more than the harsh guitars, it was almost simplistic music of the people and more importantly it was a giant middle finger to those who fucked you off. Now anyone who listens to this album and actually takes in the lyrics will realize that whilst this album doesn't have the harsh "punk" sound it certainly has the attitude.

This is one of my favorite albums and one of my favorite bands. I would very much recommend you check them out, I'll put links at the bottom of the page. I hope you enjoyed reading this and more importantly enjoyed the music. I may do more reviews in the future but probably more just songs than entire albums.

Stay alert, Stay free.

Links
Official Site
Myspace
Tour Dates

And just because it feels weird not to have a video at the end:

Of Horse And Men

I was again on another march on the 29th of January against the cuts in Manchester. Now the feeling overall was one of anger but peaceful, the majority wanted a peaceful march but the minority spoilt that, the minority in florescent jackets.

The day began with people gathering outside of the Manchester museum. The atmosphere was good, people from all around the north had gathered to show their anger at the governments plans. This was more than a march against the rise in fees, more even then a march against the cuts to higher education, this was a march against a government which many feel will send us backwards and damage us for generations to come. Of course the main message was against the cuts in higher education but amongst that were cries against NHS cuts, against library closures and tax avoiders. Along side that, unsettlingly, were messages against police brutality, something which is steadily growing as people begin to grow sick of the heavy handed tactics and over excited officers ever present at these protests, more on this later.

As the march began all was peaceful, messages of solidarity with Egypt and Tunisia, with Greece and protesters all over the world. There were chants and songs with music coming out of speakers on trolleys. All in all it was nice and peaceful as we marched down through Rusholme to the rally in Platts Fields. As we entered Platts Fields the discontent was obvious as people felt as though the NUS had purposefully lead us out of the way, away from anywhere of significance, out of the public's eye. However Arron Porter, president of the NUS, was promised at the rally and so we waited.

There were many speakers, most of which gave empty statements about solidarity and that they needed to take action but no real substance. When there was a moment of silence the cries rose up for Aaron Porter to show his face. Unlike the lies printed in the Daily Mail there were no anti-semetic chats at the rally [link], "Aaron Porter your a f****** Tory too" just happens to sound like "Aarron Porter your a f****** Tory Jew", easily mistakable but with the level of anti-racist protesters present it is undoubtable that any reports of racist chants are false aimed to direct anger at the protesters and detract from the message. There are some reports of anti-semetic chats but what was not reported were the large number of people chanting back at them saying things such as "No, Racists, No!", unreported to alienate the students from the rest of society. Many feel that Aaron Porter has deserted the students he is meant to represent with condemnations of many protests and talk of defeat from the get go.

As it turned out Aaron Porter did not turn up to the rally. Anger amongst students at Porter and some felt they needed to make their point heard. It turns out that earlier in the day he had been confronted by angry students and some eggs had been thrown at him [link]. When a leader sells out their movement and then attacks its members then they should expect anger. Aaron Porter was not hurt in this confrontation, more humiliated and scared. He locked himself into Manchester Metropolitan University Students Union and did not leave to go to the rally, for fear of more abuse. Let there be no illusion had he turned up there would have been more eggs and chants but alas he did not arrive. This angered many who wanted to show their anger and felt like Porter had been spineless in not turning up.

This is where the protest changed. Once word had got out that Porter was not turning up the populous, not just 150 as reported in the news [link] left the park and marched back towards where they thought Porter would be. There wasn't any violence just hundreds walking peacefully back into the city where our voices could be heard. As we marched people sounded their horns in support and generally the public seemed supportive. However as we reached the end of the curry mile the problems started.

At the end of the curry mile we could see a line of blue lights and after the events of the 9th of December we were wary. I and some friends saw the front of the protesters being brought to a stop and we made the decision then to avoid this, to avoid being kettled. Nothing is more angering and demoralising then being caught in a tiny area for hours on end and that is what we believed was going to happen so in that moment we descided to go around. Not to cause trouble but to get where we wanted to be without being aggrivated and pushed around by police for hours.

So after this we found ourselves running around back streets trying to avoid police confrontations and to get back towards the main protest. After about half an hour and after dumping our placards in a bin, after all we arn't going to litter, we found a large group of protesters. As it turns out they had managed to break through the police line at the end of the curry mile and continue on down. By this point people had been hurded down to one side of the street and there was a tense feeling in the air. No-one quite knew where we were going and the police seemed on edge, which later on would come to the surface. We decided a good place to aim for would be town hall as we felt that this would be a likely place to meet more people. As we arrived there were a few more protesters and one talking to the police stating that we know they are just human and are just doing their job but pleaded for the rest of the day to remain peacful, if only it could have.

We stayed at town hall for a few minutes until we saw a large group of people, they had been into town to protest against tax avoiders like Vodafone. As we joined them it was obvious that something had changed, the atmosphere had turned sour and the police had became jumpy with people being thrown against walls and shouted at before being released. By this point the numbers had dwindled and we had been split up. This is when the protest truly turned ugly.

As we marched down the road suddenly the line stopped and I and some friends hung back to see what was happening and then the inevitable happened. A line of police wrapped around the small group of protesters and closed in, there was at least a 3 deep line of police around what could have bearley been 100 people. By now the florescent gloved fists were flying and the horses were being used to walk onto the path endangering both the health of the protesters but also of the civilians around.

As time progressed they force the protesters into a smaller and smaller area angering those inside and out. The police then drove us down the side of the road towards the Hilton. One man was chased around by two police on horseback for taking a picture, the horses seemed unsteady and panicked by the darting movement they were forced to make. This was not in some secluded area either, these horses where darting around in the middle of the road with many people around, it is amazing no-one got hurt.

It is inevitable though, when horses are used so recklessly that someone was going to get hurt. As we were being moved towards the Hilton hotel, just as the police decided to move in and step between us and the Hilton, a policeman on horseback walked directly into the back of a person facing the other way. The man fell to the floor and as he turned to his front and shouted out asking what the policeman was doing, at this point 3 police jumped on him and arrested him. This man was not even facing the horse when it walked into him and he was arrested for it, it is sick to think that people can be arrested for being assaulted.

Events like this are rarely reported or even twisted to show the protester in the wrong. This again just goes to show that any news report should be taken with a grain of salt. Make no illusion to the fact that the news is often not as un-bias as it should be, a lot of the time the news is often skewed by the personal views of the editor of the paper or CEO of the news outlet. I'm not saying you shouldn't believe anything said by any certain news outlet but it is important to try and read a range of sources before making up your mind. Without, or even with, first hand witnessing it is very hard to get a full idea of events and in the major media it is very very very rare to see any criticism of police tactics. It is only a matter of time before another person is killed, it has been just over a year since Ian Tomlinson was killed at the G20 protests and many people will have forgotten about it. We cannot allow the police to continue using tactics that are dangerous and we cannot allow more people to be killed. We must report and talk about any brutality and I will make an effort to continue doing so.

However I will not finish this blog on the subject of police brutality. No, this should be about the success of the protest. Thousands of people took to the street. People of all ages came together to mouth their angers and until the end, when the police got a bit excitable, it was peaceful. We showed our anger at the betrayal by Aaron Porter and we got the public talking. As we marched people we passed would start conversations about the issues, not complain about us but to discuss the issues. To get people thinking is always a good result and lets hope at least a few people continue to think about it.

The movement is growing and the issues at hand are increasing in number. The trade unions are mobilising, the next major march is on the 26th of March [link]. When the government discusses privatising the forests of this country [link] it is obvious that they are not looking out to save the economy but to benefit the rich. We cannot sit back and allow them to dismantle our great country so I hope to see you on the 26th and I hope you keep fighting because we can and we will win.

Stay alert, Stay free.

A Simple Song Of Hope

As I stare into the night sky I am hit by a wonderful feeling. Staring back at me as I lie on the grass are a billion stars. A billion tiny dots of light spread across the black canvas of the sky. Each tiny dot a star like our own sun. A billion stars with the possibility of planets, of life. Out there are billions of possible Earths, each with their own worries, their own fights, their own struggles. Each as important as our own to those concerned.

It is then that it hits me. These stars are not only far away but long ago. It has taken many million years for a lot of these stars light to reach here. These stars, these planets, their stories may all have played out before we as humans even left the trees.

We may feel important but truly we are naught but a drop in the ocean of this universe. I have spent a lot of my time on this planet consumed with anger and hate. This serves no-one, hate only serves to destroy the vessel that carries it. In the big picture it makes little difference what we actually do with our time on this Earth.

What I want to take from this, for you to take from this is not to stop fighting injustice, to not give in on the struggle from freedom and fairness but to fight not with hate but with love. The world has seen far too much hate. We are not here long so rather that recirculating the hate back towards those who have wronged you, have hurt you, respond with love. A revolution is not worth fighting if we leave the world with the same hate and fear as before.

This is not a call to arms. This is a personal awakening. We are controlled bu fear and hate and from here I will try to chose love. I will falter, I am human after all but I will attempt to make others lives a little better. If we all try to do one thing nice a day, or to even just make small changes to make others lives easier we can bring an end to fear, to hate. We are born equal, we will die equal, let us live equal.

Just a ramble today, didn't really have much of a plan when I started so I hope it has come out alright. This blog will return to normal with the next post. Let us try to make 2011 a great year.

Thank you for reading, I will be grateful for any comment, they will help me to advance this blog.

Stay alert, Stay free.

Zombies!

The Government is wanting more and more of our information but don't worry they will be able to keep it 100% secure shouldn't they? I mean surely our security and governmental organisations have some sort of defence against known viruses don't they? Well apparently they don't. Manchester Police have recently been hit by the "Conficker worm" virus (link). This virus got into the system via an officers memory stick and spread quickly throughout the system. The virus itself has been around since at least November 2008 with the most recent variant being found in April 2009 (link), this to me would seem like ample time to set up some sort of defence to detect the virus before infection. With such sensitive and valuable data on the system a scan of any external memory devices should be run to ensure our information is safe, this is obviously not a priority of the police force.
In this case the infection was caught fast and the system was isolated meaning that the damage caused was minimal. If the virus had gone undetected for long it would open gateways for other more damaging viruses and hackers to enter through, this is very worrying considering what information is held on these types of systems.
Even though the damage was minimised the system still had to be taken down for three days. During these three days police couldn't access information to check for criminals and suspect vehicles effectively crippling the whole system. Now this may appear as a small and negligible problem in the long run but what happens if this kind of thing happens on the now developing National Identity Register (NIR)? If the NIR went down for a few days people would not be able to access any information on the system, effectively removing them from the planet for those few days. Any checks that need to be ran would be impossible and all transactions for that time would be halted.
This however, would be a best case scenario, one in which the virus was not detected early allowing it to spread could be so much worse. If a similar virus was allowed to mature and spread through the system peoples information would become readily open to attack from hackers and other viruses. This could lead to peoples information being effectively lost from the system, this person would then have to prove themselves against a system which is apparently fool proof in order to restore their identity. Furthermore peoples information could be easily stolen and sold on or used for identity fraud, with the amount of information held on the system this could be devastating.

This is not adequate protection.

The way that this system is designed to be interconnected across the entire country leaves many openings for some sort of virus to enter through. Unless their are thorougher checks on every device added to the system (this is neglecting any viruses picked up via other methods) an infection is inevitable. If a system the size of Manchester Police can fall prey to something like this what hope does a national system have? Sure, there may be a raised sense of security about it but an infection is inevitable.



Keep alert, stay free.

Fear

Fear is no longer an emotion, it is a product. A product being sold to us everyday without us even noticing. It is the fuel of this capitalist dream and those dispensing the fear hold the power over the terrified masses. Fear is what is controlling us and it is the fuel burning away at our freedoms. We need to reinstate fear as an emotion and not a product in order to be truly free.
Fear is a natural response to a threat and is perfectly natural and healthy. That is as long as the threat actually exists. However more often then not we are being lead to be fearful of threats that simply do not exist simply in an attempt to control. You watch the TV and see images of death and destruction, the news shows us engaged in another futile war whilst the soaps get involved in large murder plot lines. All to remind you that you are indeed mortal, something that instills fear into most people. This is however, not the end. We are then bombarded with advertisements for products we don't need telling us that we wont get laid if we don't buy there new wrinkle cream or anal bleach. By ensuring the consumer is scared the companies can manipulate this to sell their worthless products. There is money to be made out of fear.
It is not only the corporations that can profit from fear but also those who are instated to protect our best interests, our governments. The buzzword this past decade was terrorism, any news article could be sexed up with the words terror or extremist and result in the audience lapping up what ever spews from the newsreader. In a state of fear the people become sheep. The staggering number of CCTV cameras and the simply deplorable ID card scheme are both products of fear. The threat of terror is amplified to simply ridiculous levels in the media to create this level of fear in order to produce enough flag wavers to allow the government to have it's way. The fear created clouds people's judgement and makes them more susceptible to manipulation.
To illustrate the amplification of the threat from terrorism I give you the fact that almost 400 times more people die in car crashes in developed countries than from international terrorism (link). What does this tell us? Is it that we should be petrified of driving? No. It is simply that the threat of terror is so small it is almost negligible. The fact that road accident are so frequent and terror isn't results in the skewed view of the world we see on the news. To put it simply drama sells and terror attacks are dramatic. The whole idea of a terror attack is to create fear and due to the way the news portrays terror the attacks often have their desired results. What happens when we realise that a certain terror group isn't as scary as we first were lead to believe? After all isn't terror a new thing to the 21st century. Well the faces and names simply change. The people we are told to fear varies over time, I mean weren't the reds meant to have killed us all by now?
However terror is not the only thing we are taught to fear. If you were to take the threats printed in the news all seriously life would be impossible. Every other day there is breaking news that causes cancer or if toxic or can kill you in any number of ways. People buy into fear so if you can print a story with a scary headline people are going to buy your paper or magazine or even watch your show. So by increasing the fear in peoples lives the media companies increase their profits which intern allows the advertisers to pick up on the fear and take it running. A scared society is a stupid society.
So as this has dragged on for a while and I am positively knackered I shall round it up here. Basically a lot of what we fear is not scary. It is often blown out of proportion to fit others needs. Threats are not always as overt as those posed by politicians discussing terror, some are much more covert. The media paints a picture of a terrifying world in which everything must be feared, the advertisers then pick up on this and offer their products as the only solution. We need not fear the entire world, we need not fear each other. I believe in the intrinsic goodness of man despite the atrocities we have committed, I believe people are good. The more we succumb to this state of fear sold to us the darker the world becomes. No wonder the depression rates are always increasing, we are taught to be scared of everything and everyone. Once we see the true beauty in life, the beauty obscured by fear, we will be free. You need not be afraid simply think next time a politician or a news article or whatever tell you you need to be scared because most of the time, they are wrong. We live in a wonderful and beautiful world, too often is this forgotten. Stay happy, stay free.
Also if you enjoyed this post you may enjoy this mans work:







P.S. I realise this article has a lot of my own views as apposed to factual content but I feel this blog belongs here. If anyone has any thoughts or arguments to do with what I have written then simply comment below and I shall expand upon this.