Author: Martyn

When Is A Griffin Not A Griffin?

Griffins.

Griffins are mythological creatures which protect the gold.

They are used in the coat of arms of the City of London,
& thus upon the helmets of the City of London police.

Griffins are also used upon the crest of the Civil Nuclear
Constabulary, which is why many anti nukiller activists  refer to
them as Griffins.

A Mix and Match Police Force.

One of the most interesting trends in policing over the last few
years has been the way in which police forces help each other out.

For example:
After the riots in Haringey last year,
it became very common to see the streets of Turnpike Lane and
Wood Green patrolled by none metropolitan police offices.
e.g.
From the Strathclyde force,
etc, etc.

Earlier this year I was on the protest at the Hinkley and Sizewell
nukiller power plant protests.

At Hinkley the local Somerset police were on duty outside of the
plant.

At Sizewell the local Suffolk police were on duty outside of the
plant.

While the security just inside these EDF owned nukiller plants
was being provided by a private security company.

The Shape of the Future Nukiller Police.

Now comes the news that the Cumbrian police are being asked to
provide security at the Sellafield ( Windscale ) plant.

This is so that in future:
‘the nuclear constabulary will deal solely with anti-terrorism issues’.

Boots, Truncheons, & Iodine Tablets.

Apart from the cost aspect of local police forces undertaking to
‘protect’ nukiller plants,
there is another question which comes to my mind.

Given the move towards that mix & match form of policing.
then will all those police officers who are deployed at nukiller
plants be given extra training and equipment to deal with any
future radiation leaks?

Will they now all be provided with iodine tablets,
or guider counters as part of their standard equipment ?

or

Is this yet another ill thought out set of ideas?

It would be interesting to learn just what rank and file police
officers think about these issues.

Images Of War

Books.

Some books contain such horrific images that I would be very
reluctant to show them to anyone who has no need to view them.

Such books include: –

Ernst Friedrich.
Krieg Dem Kriege
( War against war ).

&

Lord Russel of Liverpool.
The Knights of Bushido: A Short History of Japanese War Crimes.

Both of these works contain very important information about the
horrors of war, but there they also have some very disturbing
photographic images.

The same also applies to those works which describe the effects of
Atomic Bombs dropped at Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

What applies to books about war also applies to those works
which show the medical effects of radioactive leaks from Nukiller
Power stations.

War is Not a Game.

Many media images of soldiers just show men in combat or
on military parades.

This also extends to the model soldiers which are on sale in toy
shops.  Most of these models either glorify war, or show soldiers
engaged in acts of violence.

This is why many pacifists are concerned with the sale of war toys.

It is very rare to come across model soldiers as the casualties of war, or in need of medical Help.

Veterans for Peace.

Veterans for Peace UK has recently been established with the following Aims:-

– To resist war through non-violent action.
– Support persecuted war-resisters.
– Counter militarism in society through education.
– Increase public awareness of the costs of war.
– End the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate
nuclear weapons.
&
– Abolish war as an instrument of national policy

As ex soldiers they have experienced the truth about war.

They deserve to be heard.

Looking At Paintings.

I spend a lot of my time visiting art galleries, which is why I have come to the
following conclusion:-

That the classification of art can sometimes prevent us from really understanding
just what the artist is or was doing.

I’d like to illustrate this observation by looking at the work of two artists.

Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne ( 1839–1906 ) has traditionally been thought of as an Impressionist
painter,
yet in many ways he was more than that.

Just look at these painting:-

L’Estaque
1883–1885

The Bay of Marseilles, view from L’Estaque
1885

Still Life, Drapery, Pitcher, and Fruit Bowl
1893–1894

&

The  watercolour

Mill at the River
1900–1906

If you look these works closely enough you will realise that they are more cubist
than impressionist in nature.

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh ( 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890 ) is always referred to as being a
post-Impressionist painter.

What are less commented upon are  his drawings.

For example:-

Cypresses (Les Cyprès), 1889

or

Starry Night, after the painting, 1889

Now just start looking at his paintings such as:-

The Starry Night, June 1889

Wheatfield with Crows, 1890

and

Cypresses, 1889

What will then become very obvious to you is that many of his paintings were no
more and no less than drawings in colour.

Understand that,
and start to look at the rest of his works with a fresh eye.

These observations about looking afresh at works of art can also be applied to political thought.

Just you think about it.

More A Force Than A Police Force

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary are planning to build a new
£1.6m firing range at Dounreay.

Dounreay was used for fast Breader Nukiller Reactor research and development.
The site is now run by Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL).

Coming together with other information about the
CNC,  it would seem that they are now aiming to become more of
an armed force: – rather than an old fashioned constabulary.

A Date To Remember

People tend to remember what happened at Chernobyl, but very
few will be able to tell you just what happened at Mayak.

This was the Kyshtym Disaster which happened on
September 29th 1957.

Long out of print the following book will tell you something
about just why it was hushed up at the time: –

Medvedev, Zhores A.
Nuclear disaster in the Urals.

It would be really good if we could have a series of events around
the world to mark the 55th anniversary of this disaster.

Resisting the Olympics – A Resource List.

The 2012 Olympics are currently being built up by an
unprecedented media hype.

Yet there are many major objections as to how the event is being
run,  and just as many campaigners who are working to stop the
long lasting damage which it will create.


Background information and Resources.

This summer an army of occupation will take over the East End of
Cockneyland.

I refer to the army of  10,000 ‘security guards’,   7,000 military,
and the  large  number of extra police which will be in place
during this years Olympic event.

There are also many concerns about the way that this event will
both destroy many locally important ecological sites,
and how it will impact upon the civil rights of those who live in
the East End.

Resisting the Olympics.

The good news is that there are now a growing number of groups
and organisations which are countering the Olympics.

Here are a few links to these networks: –

– Games Monitor  – debunking Olympics myths.

– SAY NO TO LONDON 2012

– The New Lammas Lands Defence Committee

&

– NOGOE (No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events)

Resistance to the Multinational Sponsors.

The other really perturbing aspect of the Olympics is that it is
being sponsored by some of the worlds largest & most
irresponsible multi-nationals.

Rather that list them all:
here is a list of some campaigns which are working against them.

On BP – The UK No Tar Sands Network

On EDF –  Boycott EDF

On RTZ – Partizans (People against Rio Tinto and its Subsidiaries)

On Coca-Cola – No Sweat

On Muckdonalds – McCruelty

&

On Dow Chemical – The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) have also protested against this Dow sponsorship.

The 2012 Olympic games will be a disaster, and we should support all of these campaigns.


Vancouver 2010

There was also a lot of resistance to the
2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver BC Canada.

There is a lot of information you can find online about just what happened during this event.

These include: –

– No One Is Illegal Vancouver!

&

– Resisting the Olympics Resources

Reykjavík City Library

One of my highlights of last year was to be given a tour around
the Reykjavík City Library, which is housed in a converted
warehouse in the city centre.

The  same building also houses the Reykjavík Photo Museum,
and Reykjavik Municipal Archives.

Just how the library was founded and grew is an interesting history in itself.

Opened in 1919 it was in part funded by the sale of fishing vessels
owned by the City to France in 1917.

Right from the start the  library lent out cases of books to ships.

A Cultural Centre.

What I really like about the library is that it is used both cultural
and information centre.

During the summer the library hosts literary walking tours
around the centre of  Reykjavík.

While the ‘Let’s read the papers!’ provides guidance for those who
want to read the Icelandic news papers and understand what’s
going on in Iceland.

There is also a small cinema area within the library.  At the time
of my visit it was screening early German films.

The library works with Artóteki,
which  rents and sells arts works of art  by Icelandic artists.

Library Matters.

Here is a summary of just how the library operates.

– In all there are 85 library staff in city, with 35 of them based in
the main library.

– All accessioning and book preparation work is done in house.

– The library uses a Danish version of the Dewey Classification
system.

– The library works in co-operation with other libraries within Iceland.

– It is member of Nordic Camps – The Network of Nordic Public Libraries.

&

– There is a very good stock of both Manga and none Icelandic
books which are available for loan.

Interestingly enough the highest number of  immigrants in
Iceland come from Poland.

If your ever in Reykjavík,  then you should make sure to pop in to
the library.

I should also like to thank Einar Ólafsson for showing me around
the library.

Don’t Tell Me As I’m Immune To This.

Switch off or take no notice.

That’s my attitude to most advertising,
and here is the reason why.

Most advertisements make a presumption about both ones
lifestyle,
and  those social values which do not apply to me.

I also know just which lines tend to show that I’m about to be
conned out of my money.

So – Here is a check-list of those words  or expression which will
never work on me: –

– Mortgage.

– Credit card(s).

– Take away food menu(s).

– Cable Television.

– Mobile phone.

– Retirement & funeral plans.

– Loan offers.

– Celebs.

– ‘ As seen on TV ’.

– Branded goods.

– Christmas.

– Sports sponsorship.

– Corporate sponsorship.

– The Olympics and all that goes with it.

– The internal combustion engine.

– Offers for two.

– Anything which says ‘family friendly’.

– Upgrade(s).

– New  or Exciting.

&

– Special offer.

Now I could write something about those words and expressions
which might work on me,
but I just don’t want to deal with yet more spam or junk mail.

No thank you very much.

The Last Rotten Borough – Part Two

Despite all of the various occupy protests of late.

I’m still waiting for someone to mount a serious campaign to curb the power(s) of those who run the City of London Corporation.

Here is a quote which says a lot about just why I hate the City of
London Corporation.

‘ Today, voting rights for the City of London’s municipal
authority are granted to its 32,000 businesses in addition to
residents which now number fewer than 12,000. ’

If you really want to see how this works out in practice,
then take a look at the City of London website.

What also gets me is the way in which people may obtain the
Freedom of the City.

Just how one may mount a serious campaign to challenge the
power(s) of the City of London Corporation is still open to
debate,
but challenged it must be.

A True Cockney

I was born ‘in the City of London in the City of London’,
or to be more exact
St Bartholomew’s (known as Barts) Hospital.

This means that I am a true Cockney as I was born within the sound
of Bow Bells.

Though it’s a long time since Barts has had a maternity unit,
and so there must be fewer & fewer cockneys.

My birth certificate reads:  ‘ Born in the City of London in the City of London’.

Thus I am a part of the last forgotten indigenous minority.

If I were able to afford to move back to the City of London,
then I would effectively be disenfranchised by the city vote.

That is why challenging the power(s) of the City of London
Corporation is very much one of my major concerns.