Jill Rees: Welcome Press

It is very interesting to google these two names by which we sometime know the flooded nation we are contemplating invading, or are we? Sorry, bit confused…..Oh you want me to be confused? Fair do.

If you google Myanmar, you get what you would expect. Tourist guides tell us about this relatively unknown country, once invaded by Britain for the tea in the 17th centruy, then a battleground for Japanese and British troops in the War, stuff from the tourist board, hotels and resorts, news about ASEAN the Eastern nations network for collaboration and so on. Travel Asia has 3,000 pictures and 5,000 words about the country, which it invites you to visit. We are told about Aung San Suu Kyi who is under house arrest still, having won the popular vote in the military regime which nonetheless took over from socialists, so you would think the US would approve. It is the US who have refused to recognise the ethnically correct name of Myanmar. In the UK we always called it Myanmar until now.

What a different atmosphere surrounds the google search for Burma. Now we have the BBC and other nefarious propagandists for the US screaming out about the military regime, now to be called a ‘junta’, which suppresses everything and stifles everything else. OK I didn’t bother to click on these entries. Apparently there a lots of political prisoners which US groups have been campaigning to free for a while (see uscampaignforburma.org/)

Of course I don’t agree with oppression or with the way this country has dealt with offers of help with rescue from the cyclone, I just would like to be clear why I can’t now call this country Myanmar, as they have requested. There are roads towards peace and roads to war, and while we continually offend Myanmar by using the old colonial name, it doesn’t seem surprising that they are suspicious of our motives for wanting to send army factions in, albeit ostensibly for aid. Refusing to use its name just shows our aggressive intent. It reminds me of when Iraq suspected the UN inspections being a cover for reconnaissance for a planned attack. Myanmar like everyone is well aware of this tactic, and I sympathise with its fear of the US doing the same thing with Myanmar.

We really need to learn how to approach others, how not to be aggressive from the start, and to leave all doors wide open for dialogue at all times. Calling this country by its correct name seems a small but fundemental start to enabling them to open up. Because of our stupidity, the opportunity to have a place in Myanmar has now been lost. And the UK should surely know better by now than to continue to kowtow to the US. Are there any young men left in the UK that we can affordto get them killed in another pointless US warmongering campaign?

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Austria it seems is full of crazy guys, with 270 further missing children in a country of only 8 million people. Not everyone, it seems, is taken on skiing trips with their family. The cause may be the atmosphere of patriarchism left by the old regime, but my hero Falco again hit the nail on the head with his song Jeannie

View it here with its amazing video, and the newsreader at the end reading about disappeared young women. If that doesn’t give you the creeps enough, here’s his homage to neo-fascist leaders in modern day Austria, Wienerblut, blood in Vienna.

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It took me a while to call you
By your proper name Wien.
I used to call you Vienna.
Like Vienna schnitzel
And Wienerwald in the days
When I still saw Kafka’s eyes
Everywhere I went,
Skulking round the Haus des Meeres
Eying the Kokoschkas,
Peering from behind the
Cafe window, tutting at
Chocolate cake and
Fighting against the system,
Knowing we wouldn’t win.
At the station
60 kilometres from Vienna
I had to ask
Is this the Vienna train
And the man laughed
And shouted Wien Wien
You are not what you seem.
Can anyone love you more than I do?

I packed my case again
For I am a stranger
And a rambler.
I made love to you
One last time, kicking
My boots against the pines,
Scowled at the Schoenbrunn
As I passed on the tram,
I hated the Empire
And the children wide-eyed
Telling me about their
One-vote parliament
And I wheeled my case
Along the cobbles,
Into the number 78
To the Sudbahnhof.
Suddenly the blue hollow eyes,
Uncurious, unassuming, gazed
Once more at the traveller.
But when I travel now I am
Forever exile.
Sometime I wonder if
Everyone in Wien must be
An exile, it seems the mean,
Freud and Schoenberg, and can I
Please have a plot in the
Zentralfriedhof cemetery with the
Exiles if I am dead when I return.

Here the air is hot, I stifle
To breathe, I wave a fan
And drink lukewarm water
And I dream of frost and
Scurrying into the Aida bar,
And long for gloves and hats
And murmur in my sleep,
Pronouncing your name correctly.
Wien,Wien.

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Backends all changed

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Although largely dismissed in the UK, Descartes’ main arguments, the argument of duality, that the spiritual can affect the physical, is one of the mainstays of Western thought and is the skeleton of western science, considered to be the ultimate in logical and scientific thinking since Aristotle laid the ground rule that ‘A thing cannot be both A and not A. This is in contrast to eastern philosophy. In Chinese thinking, Daoism says that all things are one, and the eastern philosophy constantly seeks consensus. Life is the important thing, the totality of a man’s life and what he leaves behind him is his judge, community and harmony are the aim of society.

Contemporary thinkers tend to suggest that this western commitment to dualism is the cause of most of our evils and our problems. It leads us to use competition against the common good, to accept personal ambition above social needs, to destroy our environment and wider concerns for short term comforts and pleasures. Descartes believed, like the Bible, that animals were automata, subservient to whatever uses we wished to put them to, and that the human being was the primary and superior entity on this planet. Our carelessness about other creatures is now leading to mass extinctions caused by man’s usurping of the natural environment. Once the eco-cycle is destroyed, humankind may well follow the species we have chased into oblivion.

Nevertheless, determining to follow the dualistic way of thinking has enabled us to take ideas apart, into the thesis and hypothesis, in order to investigate them systematically. This has led to our being able to devise engineering and electronic materials and environments which enable us to cure disease, to travel by air, use the binary systems of computers, as well as submission of animals and the sublimating of our natural feelings and needs to growth and profit. We are increasingly able to understand scientifically this world we inhabit, and use our scientific knowledge to change our lives for the better in many cases. We have become like gods, with an understanding of good and evil, and able to perform miracles.

It has also led to racism, to nationalism, to shooting from the hip, imperialism and using each other to our own purpose, to materialism, to believing that everything will be alright if we confess on our death bed. We believe that God is ‘out there’ and will save us, no matter how we behave now. We hope for a heaven, as well as this earth, and that there will be somewhere for us to go once we have destroyed this planet. We think God will repair it again after we have broken it.

In the west everything is in tension and is adversarial. We lack the idea that life works as a harmony, with everything which exists serving a purpose in its own way. Today, a friend was explaining to me about the different tribes and peoples of Nigeria. He said some were known for their intellectual strength and for valuing education, another for their famous business acumen, and a third for their social outlook and caring attitudes. My reaction was how well these suit each other, they must make up the wonderful society that is Nigeria, but he went on to say how each thinks it is the best, and the most worthy to run the nation, and so are always in conflict, sometimes at war. In the UK too, we have always had the different peoples, the English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish, who were adversaries for so long. But it is peace and working in respect and in unity that makes us strong.

A saying from the East says:

"Cherry, plum, peach and damson blossoms all have their own qualities, and they manifest the three properties of life without changing their character." Each one of us contributes our own unique qualities through the role we play in society. The cherry flower is renowned for its beauty; many people enjoy seeing the cherry blossoms in the spring. The plum blooms in late winter,while other flowers usually bloom in the spring, and it, too, is known for its beauty. According to an old Chinese tradition, peaches are said to bring longevity and ward off evil. The damson flower’s appearance is different from the others, but it is associated with assiduousness and perseverance. Each of these flowers is unique, it is an example of how each human being is unique. In the same way, the differences between individuals and groups of people can be seen as complementary, rather than in conflict. By working and living together we can create a holistic and healthy society in which everyone can be happy.

The African philosopher Maulana Karenga created the philosophy of Kawaida, which is intended to be an ongoing understanding of African thought, in which culture is the central concern, what it is to be and to feel both African and human in the fullest sense. It means using one’s sense of self to establish wholesome, genuinely African, harmonious communities of culture which can function within Africa and the international scene. Usually based on the narrative ancient histories and wisdoms of the various African peoples, it seeks to bring all cultures together into a comprehensively holistic way of life and way of communication. It is a liberation from colonialism, and also an escape from conflict. Kawaida follows from ancient African philosophy, which had more of the oriental idea of the unity of nature and less of the European dualism, and which exists now in the stories and songs of traditional communities still remaining in the rural areas.

The academic rigour of the Ibo, the business acumen of the Yoruba and the social sensitivity of the Hausa, along with the other 316 peoples currently inhabiting this vast land of Nigeria, even making use maybe of a touch of British strategic planning from the intimate links many Nigerians have with the UK, can all come together with the common desire to from one great nation. The precision and analytical skills of Cartesian dualism can be coupled with the quest for harmony within society and in this way enable human life to continue to develop, but in a way which fits with our environment and which is sustainable. That sense of place, of our surroundings and of the truth about our current state, is the realism which will enable Nigeria to become a beacon of harmony and happiness for the rest of Africa and eventually the entire world.

‘United we are strong’, we say, ‘divided we fall’. Usually that’s about football, but I think it applies to everything!

©Jill Rees

20 May 2008

1,112 words

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Although largely dismissed in the UK, Descartes’ main arguments, the argument of duality, that the spiritual can affect the physical, is one of the mainstays of Western thought and is the skeleton of western science, considered to be the ultimate in logical and scientific thinking since Aristotle laid the ground rule that ‘A thing cannot be both A and not A. This is in contrast to eastern philosophy. In Chinese thinking, Daoism says that all things are one, and the eastern philosophy constantly seeks consensus. Life is the important thing, the totality of a man’s life and what he leaves behind him is his judge, community and harmony are the aim of society.

Contemporary thinkers tend to suggest that this western commitment to dualism is the cause of most of our evils and our problems. It leads us to use competition against the common good, to accept personal ambition above social needs, to destroy our environment and wider concerns for short term comforts and pleasures. Descartes believed, like the Bible, that animals were automata, subservient to whatever uses we wished to put them to, and that the human being was the primary and superior entity on this planet. Our carelessness about other creatures is now leading to mass extinctions caused by man’s usurping of the natural environment. Once the eco-cycle is destroyed, humankind may well follow the species we have chased into oblivion.

Nevertheless, determining to follow the dualistic way of thinking has enabled us to take ideas apart, into the thesis and hypothesis, in order to investigate them systematically. This has led to our being able to devise engineering and electronic materials and environments which enable us to cure disease, to travel by air, use the binary systems of computers, as well as submission of animals and the sublimating of our natural feelings and needs to growth and profit. We are increasingly able to understand scientifically this world we inhabit, and use our scientific knowledge to change our lives for the better in many cases. We have become like gods, with an understanding of good and evil, and able to perform miracles.

It has also led to racism, to nationalism, to shooting from the hip, imperialism and using each other to our own purpose, to materialism, to believing that everything will be alright if we confess on our death bed. We believe that God is ‘out there’ and will save us, no matter how we behave now. We hope for a heaven, as well as this earth, and that there will be somewhere for us to go once we have destroyed this planet. We think God will repair it again after we have broken it.

In the west everything is in tension and is adversarial. We lack the idea that life works as a harmony, with everything which exists serving a purpose in its own way. Today, a friend was explaining to me about the different tribes and peoples of Nigeria. He said some were known for their intellectual strength and for valuing education, another for their famous business acumen, and a third for their social outlook and caring attitudes. My reaction was how well these suit each other, they must make up the wonderful society that is Nigeria, but he went on to say how each thinks it is the best, and the most worthy to run the nation, and so are always in conflict, sometimes at war. In the UK too, we have always had the different peoples, the English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish, who were adversaries for so long. But it is peace and working in respect and in unity that makes us strong.

A saying from the East says:

“Cherry, plum, peach and damson blossoms all have their own qualities, and they manifest the three properties of life without changing their character.” Each one of us contributes our own unique qualities through the role we play in society. The cherry flower is renowned for its beauty; many people enjoy seeing the cherry blossoms in the spring. The plum blooms in late winter,while other flowers usually bloom in the spring, and it, too, is known for its beauty. According to an old Chinese tradition, peaches are said to bring longevity and ward off evil. The damson flower’s appearance is different from the others, but it is associated with assiduousness and perseverance.
Each of these flowers is unique, it is an example of how each human being is unique. In the same way, the differences between individuals and groups of people can be seen as complementary, rather than in conflict. By working and living together we can create a holistic and healthy society in which everyone can be happy.

The African philosopher Maulana Karenga created the philosophy of Kawaida, which is intended to be an ongoing understanding of African thought, in which culture is the central concern, what it is to be and to feel both African and human in the fullest sense. It means using one’s sense of self to establish wholesome, genuinely African, harmonious communities of culture which can function within Africa and the international scene. Usually based on the narrative ancient histories and wisdoms of the various African peoples, it seeks to bring all cultures together into a comprehensively holistic way of life and way of communication. It is a liberation from colonialism, and also an escape from conflict. Kawaida follows from ancient African philosophy, which had more of the oriental idea of the unity of nature and less of the European dualism, and which exists now in the stories and songs of traditional communities still remaining in the rural areas.

The academic rigour of the Ibo, the business acumen of the Yoruba and the social sensitivity of the Hausa, along with the other 316 peoples currently inhabiting this vast land of Nigeria, even making use maybe of a touch of British strategic planning from the intimate links many Nigerians have with the UK, can all come together with the common desire to from one great nation. The precision and analytical skills of Cartesian dualism can be coupled with the quest for harmony within society and in this way enable human life to continue to develop, but in a way which fits with our environment and which is sustainable. That sense of place, of our surroundings and of the truth about our current state, is the realism which will enable Nigeria to become a beacon of harmony and happiness for the rest of Africa and eventually the entire world.

‘United we are strong’, we say, ‘divided we fall’. Usually that’s about football, but I think it applies to everything!

©Jill Rees

20 May 2008

1,112 words

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One of the last pictures of Princess Diana showed her holding a disabled baby during her land-mines visit to Angola in 1997, just a couple of months before she died. She had found the child huddled in blankets in the corner of a dark hut, hidden from view because of the shame felt towards disabled people in that community. She had somehow sensed that there was someone inside, and walked in, looked round to see a huddle of blankets in a darkened corner, picked up what turned out to be a child with polio, and cuddled this child throughout the interview with the world’s TV looking on. The child’s mother looked up at the Princess with awe and love. In a society where she had always been made to feel ashamed of her child, this beautiful, rich, influential princess had shown this one child love, as if it were special.

Indeed the word special was used for a long time in the UK as society fought against prejudice and sought to release disabled children into a life in which they too would be part of society. Slowly, disabled children were brought into ordinary schools, and today, with additional help, all schools are inclusive in the UK, and take in all children whatever their ability or disability. It is illegal to refuse a school place or a job to someone on the grounds of their disability, and it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure his or her workplace is equipped to enable disabled workers to work there.

In the past disability was considered a punishment from God, which displayed some terrible sin a person had done in the past. This turned out to be a strange belief, since for it to apply to a baby born disabled, which used to be the most common cause, it would imply reincarnation, something the Church didn’t want to agree to at all! Nevertheless the idea that God had punished someone’s child ensured a lifetime of neglect and mistreatment for the child, and shame for the parents, and inaction from the community.

As illnesses like polio became less common because of the vaccination programme, people began to believe they could affect disease and afflictions of the human body without God’s interference. Men injured at work and women in childbirth could be saved, their wounds staunched and penicillin stem the risk of infection provide the new disabled, people who consider their affliction as accident rather than punishment. Many of today’s disabled are the result of the 3,000 road accidents in the UK, several thousand which result in permanent disability. In the UK, where most babies are born in hospital, premature babies as young as 23 weeks can be saved by artificial incubation, but often end up with some form of disability. It seems ironic to me that we spend so much money saving scarcely viable babies, and yet can’t invest in a decent rail service to get people off the roads. The other group of the disabled have always been the brave soldiers injured in war, and we have a new batch of these in the UK as a result of the military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The possibility of any of us becoming disabled at some point as well as the development of human rights and the humanitarian ethic in Europe has led to a series of anti-discrimination laws. The UK is way ahead of other European countries in this, perhaps because inclusivity policies save a lot of money on special schools and lost income from those who are able to work with a little help.

Pauline Alexander is deaf, yet a lady with many talents and skills. She has worked in administration and secretarial areas for many years, including work with the society for the deaf, lecturing and writing on contemporary issues. Last year she was refused agency work because the company couldn’t provide the equipment needed. She challenged their refusal on the basis of the discrimination law and won, which means that companies can’t discriminate against agency workers, and must all ensure they are ready to employ disabled people.

She is currently staging a beautiful exhibition of her work in London, which celebrates the humanity of everyone with a disability, and expresses the frustration felt by disabled people in an able world. This is perhaps the next battle, for disabled people to be not just to have their rights recognised, but to be able to feel accepted. But think for a minute, is the world entirely well-measured for those of us we consider to be normal?

If you are thinking in an absolute way, the world today is made for a’perfect human’, usually the young male. Everyone else in our world is disabled by the way we have made it. Everything from the height of shelves to the thickness of doors is poorly designed for women and children. Ordinary kitchen appliances are often difficult to manoeuvre for older people. In circumstances like these, additional tools or aids are required, just as a wheelchair or hearing aid is used by disabled people.

Minority groups usually are the ones who have to fight to improve the lot of ordinary people. When I was a child, disability was hidden, and the first time I saw a disabled person was in College, when I was 19. Thalidomide kids my age, with their shortened arms and legs, were permitted to come to an ordinary college to finish their studies. Since then, I’ve been constantly grateful for the opportunity to teach children with varying skills and limitations, including fighting for a deaf student to continue with her GCSE French, which her school tried to push her out of despite it being her favourite subject and one she was good at, taking pleasure in careful pronunciation, which of course also helped her English too. I have taught blind kids, using special screens, and devised complex physical games which take into account boys in wheelchairs. Great fun, exciting challenge, rewarding to us all, thanks guys, keep coming to my classes please.

Pauline’s wonderful paintings teach us how valuable it is to get to know and work with people with experiences which differ from our own, who can enable us to understand and appreciate each other’s differences and different needs. As we learn to accept the differences between us, we become more able to have positive relationships with people from different cultures too, and with values which are different from our own, which is what being human is all about.

You can see some of her stuff here http://disabilityarts.com/site/pauline_alexander

1093 words

©Jill Rees

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‘I have pondered the matter carefully with what limited resources I possess, and have looked a little at the scriptures for an answer,’ says the 13th century Buddhist monk Nichiren Daishonin in the treatise ‘On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land’. ‘The people of today all turn their backs on what is right; to a person, they give their allegiance to evil. This is the reason that the benevolent deities have abandoned the nation and departed altogether, that sages leave and do not return. And in their stead devils and demons come, and disasters and calamities occur. I cannot keep silent on this matter. I cannot suppress my fears.’ from The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin p7

The Burmese junta chose to attack, oppress and torture Buddhist monks in the recent demonstrations against their policy, and have brought the havoc and destruction of this catastrophe against them. Still they don’t turn their hearts to their people, who suffer even more now. This is bound to happen in an evil uncaring regime, according to Buddhist law, in which cause and effect cannot help but roll out. The Burmese government even now believe they can circumvent further catastrophe by closing themselves in and resisting what can save its people, but the truth is unfortunately that they are causing further disaster. If the Buddhist law is true, unless they change there will soon be foreign invasion.

Szechuan Province in China has seen massive investment from the central government and a great liberation over the years from its oppressive and feudal past into a modern vibrant area. Beijing has effected very extensive engineering to prevent floods and enable good water and food supplies, built industry and universities, and invested hugely in the capital Chengdu and other cities such as Chongking, which are now centres of international tourism. The ethnic traditions have been revived and dances and songs are everywhere. Their dark lawlord past is largely behind them at last. So it is pure mischief making that they decided to demonstrate against the Han and appear as if they are in a similar condition to the Tibetans.

In fact probably Chinese development, kicking and screaming though it may be, is probably the best thing that’s happened to Tibet too, and living and dying in the dark ages, giving all your meagre gains to the priests and having no right to any government because the Dalai Lama is supposed to rule not only their church but also their land,isn’t the kind of life that most Tibetans actually aspire to. Like everyone else, including Szechuan, they want modernisation and liberation. Even if you believe the Dalai Lama’s mutterings at the end of the Seven Years in Tibet film, with Brad Pitt, that he was ‘about to bring about change by ourselves’ which I have to say I personally do not, you can’t help but ask if this is the case, what need the Dalai Lama? Why not have a secular elected government like the rest of us, including like China? You can leave religion then to personal choice. I suspect the DL himself is thinking now along these lines, from what I can gather.

The Szechuan protesters were also trying to pull their people back into the darkness of poverty and backward-thinking, and calamity in the form of the earthquake has struck them too. Luckily China will probably provide aid faster than the Burmese, having brought Szechuan into the modern era, and having the wealth available.

Although the way it is phrased in the old scriptures sounds archaic, the meaning holds true today, that poor government and evil-thinking in a nation without fail brings about all the catastrophes on its people, from starvation, to social unrest, on to the inablility to prevent or respond to natural disasters, and finally the despair of invasion as they show their decline and weakness to their neighbours.

The only way to establish peace in your land, concludes Nichiren, is to ensure that it is governed wisely and fairly, and that people manifest the three qualities of the Buddha to each other: courage, wisdom, compassion. This is a lesson to us all, never to be complacent and assume our government has good intentions, keep our eye on them, as well as making sure we are generous, just and honest in our own lives. Then we stand a chance of mucking in with our environment and eradicating suffering.

I truly hope that Burma realises in time that it needs to change and treat its people with compassion, cos I think America’s got their eye on them. And war is the greatest calamity of all.

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In 1908, the writer Franz Kafka, who came up with masterpieces such as Metamorphosis,The Castle and The Trial, which define and help us perceive the strange reality that is contemporary bureacracy, began his day-job with the Workers Accident Insurance Bureau for Bohemia in its offices in Prague, Czech Republic. It is known that he was hindered in his writing by this monotonous work, and had to write at night, but a little know fact is that Kafka invented the civilian hard hat, which saved many lives of working people in his country then, and in the world since they have begun universally compulsory on building sites and dangerous areas.

It has long been my theory that great artists are also great men, and all of us chattering classes who are so grateful to Kafka for saving our spiritual lives, are nothing in comparison with all the thousands and thousands of workers who have never read Kafka and would laugh at such an idea, but who themselves are protected each day by his great compassion in inventing the hard hat. Amazing eh?

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Pauline Alexander has staged a beautiful exhibition of her work, which celebrates the humanity of everyone with a disability, and expresses the frustration felt by disabled people in an able world. Or is it indeed an able world?

If you are thinking in an absolute way, the world today is made for a’perfect human’. He (for it is a he) is young, male, works in sales, drives everywhere, pretends to like football when he is drunk, has had to substitute porno for sex, is an is likely to remain childless and gets impatient at check-outs. Everyone else in our world is disabled by the way we have made it.

For example, kitchen shelves are unreachable by all but this tall young man, women have to stand on a plastic box, sold at ASDA and B&Q specially, in order to have access to pans and casseroles. This common experience is what disabled people do when they use an implement to counter-act their disability, such as a hearing aid or extra locomotion, a wheelchair or adapted car.

Nobbled pavements at road crossings can’t be used by wheelchairs or women with children, as the push chair wheels won’t go across the nobles. Women’s shoes are also unusable here becasue the heels catch. The nobbles are there for the blind, but disable other groups.

Car use disables all children, who can’t walk or ride bikes to school, they can no longer play football or run to the park. Women can no longer chat outside their front doors, becasue of the constant noise of traffic. Cars are mainly owned by the young men, and it is they who drive fast over our children, killing 3,000 people every year and killing or maiming 300 people a day, many of them children and pedestrians. Most pedestrians are women, children and old people, and these are the ones most disabled in our society.

Minority groups usually are the ones who have taken on our karma to fight to improve the lot of ordinary people. When I was a child, disablility was hidden, and the first time I saw a disabled person was in College, when I was 19, and Thalidomide kids my age were permitted to come to an ordinary college to finish their studies. Since then, I’ve been constantly grateful for the opportunity to teach children with varying skills and limitations, including fighting for a deaf student to continue with her GCSE French, which her school tried to push her out of despite it being her favourite subject and one she was good at, taking pleasure in careful pronounciation, which of course also helped her English too. I have taught blind kids, using special screens, and devised complex physical games which take into account boys in wheelchairs. Great fun, exciting challenge, rewarding to us all, thanks guys, keep coming to my classes please.

So you can see from Pauline’s wonderful work how valuable our colleagues are, who can enable us to understand and appreciate each other’s differences and different needs, which is what being human is all about. Please click on Pauline’s exhibit. Well done girl.

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