The Funeral, The Wedding and The Godfather

With the Godfather. Dartmouth, October 2007

Ah, Mansel. He was my old landlord, a top bloke and a good mate. He was sixty-one years old, and died in his sleep at home, thankfully without having to endure months or possibly years of treatment which would have made him immobile and dependent on others. Cancer is a bastard. Mansel was a star. We shared a lot in common; a desire for social justice, a love of travel, a fear of flying, the odd glass of vino tinto, Cuban music, and a deep distrust of red tape and everything bureaucratic. The old git has got the perfect resting place; in the churchyard of Stoke Gabriel, a stones throw away from the ancient yew tree, overlooking the millpond and the sloping patchwork hills which are unmistakeably English. It's idyllic. At his funeral on Friday I delivered a short eulogy and read the poem of the unknown soldier. I had read it at my father's funeral four years ago. It is how I feel about death:

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there, I do not sleep

I am the silent winds that blow

I am the diamond glints on snow

I am the sunlight on ripened grain

I am the gentle autumn rain

When you awaken in the morning hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight

I am the soft stars that shine at night

Do not stand at my grave and cry

I am not there, I did not die.

I prefer funerals to weddings anyday, and I've often said so. Firstly you don't have to pretend to be happy. You don't have to talk to people of you don't want to, and you don't have to take a gift. The buffet is usually better too. Is it because there is one less person to worry about? The budget stretches just that little bit further, you see...

At the Imperial Hotel in Torquay I attended the wedding of an old friend who I've known since we lived and worked in London together. We were both nineteen years old. Suddenly there she was on Saturday looking beautiful, radiant and euphoric. On the other hand I was stood there, now single, long haired, suited, baggy eyed, feeling slightly worse for wear from Mansel's wake the night before (it went on until 3am). Many faces from my old life in London were there, all of them questioning why I'm no longer career minded. To them I must seem like a bit of a drop out. However I do love having a simple life, and my life in here in Devon offers everything I've wished for. I have the time to write, the beach and the moorland nearby, good friends, a great little town to live in, my guitar and my camera. That's it. It's all I need. It is tempting to go out gigging again but then I think of tiresome long distance driving, greedy and dishonest agents, junk food and fuel prices. Then I soon come back to my senses.

On Sunday I attended The Writing on the Wall at the Flavel Centre in Dartmouth. An alternative history of our country given by The Godfather himself: Tony Benn. And that brilliant folk singer Roy Bailey. It's the first time I've heard Benn give any public talks and he doesn't disappoint. God bless him; he's well over eighty years old, he has twice my energy and he's spot on with almost everything he speaks about. When he speaks, I hear the truth. It's not every day you get to meet a man who's served in three cabinet posts in government, prompted a major change in the hereditary peerage system, met Gandhi, headed the peace movement ahead of the Iraq invasion, and who continues to inspire and provoke. He said yesterday that he doesn't really see himself as a harmless old gentlemen. He says he got two death threats last year and he was thrilled.

Burma: Continued Solidarity Needed

Nuff said. London, 6th October 2007

Is altruism dead? No, it's not, as a good mate reassured me last week. It was confirmed last Saturday. Thousands of people - many of them previously unable to locate Burma on the world map - showed solidarity with the people of that country on the streets of major cities across the globe last weekend. I cannot speak of the ambience in any other place but London. What a demonstration it turned out to be. We all assembled at the Tate Britain, wearing red t-shirts or headbands, and walked across to the south side of the river. To Westminster Bridge, where the monks who led the march dropped petals into the Thames. We chanted through Parliament Square, where the dancing peacock flag of the NLD was flying high, along Whitehall to Downing Street where red banners were tied to the railings. In Trafalgar Square the monks offered prayers in Burmese. We stood on the fountain walls while others tied red ribbons around the necks of the bronze lions at the foot of Nelson's Column. Speeches were given, people shouted and applauded and some shed tears. Glenys Kinnock spoke loudly and clearly:

"We say to that junta in Burma we are still watching you, do not think our eyes will leave you for one second. We are watching you. We are telling the people of Burma that we will not ever waver from that solidarity with you that we are showing here today."

I do hope she is right. For people are dying under interrogation as we speak. People are in hiding, dreading the knock on the door in the middle of the night. There are monks being tortured and sent away to forced labour camps. Families are in despair for relatives unaccounted for. The horrors of our worst thoughts are happening in that run-down country, where the tiniest portion of a population live in opulence beyond our imagination.

On the 26th September Win Shwe - a prominent activist and member of the National League for Democracy - was among several thousand non-violent protesters arrested in Burma at the beginning of the junta's crackdown on civilian protests. Win Shwe was forty-two years old. He died while being interrogated by the military regime for his part in the protests. His body was not returned to his family. The authories sent it away to be cremated.

Than Shwe, the reclusive leader of Burma's murderous illegal military government, is using that great human being - the undisputed leader of the party which won the 1990 elections and the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner - Aung San Suu Kyi (it feels great just to even write her name) once again as a political pawn. As a sop to the international community, the junta have said they will begin talks with Suu Kyi, but on condition that she "drops her confrontational attitude" and "withdraws her call for economic sanctions". Proof, if proof were ever needed, that here lies a body of men who are clearly deranged and view the rest of us as clueless. They are incapable of behaving with honesty and decency. The NLD have rejected the offer of talks as insincere and that talks without preconditions should be set by the junta.

The United Nations Security Council have now issued a statement which "strongly deplores the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators" and calls for all parties to "to work together toward a de-escalation of the situation and a peaceful solution". Do these generals care about statements? Do they care, for example, about the thoughts of the clearly incompentent but trying Mr Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Special Envoy? Is it not time Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General, visited Burma personally to intervene? When exactly is the "right time"? When does an "internal issue" become an "international concern"? Will Thailand, Bangladesh and India still consider it an internal issue when scores of Burmese, frightened for their lives, spill out onto their borders?

I've had mixed thoughts in the past about sanctioning Burma. Companies who invest in Burma have been saying since the first crackdown twenty years ago that it is better to engage with the regime and influence change. Have twenty years of foreign investment changed things in Burma? The answer is no - resolutely - loud and clear. People are suffering and if you don't believe witness reports and human rights organizations, then the footage is there for us all to see. It is a country where a tiny group of elite benefit from major foreign investment. They benefit from it greatly indeed. Their workers are more often than not unwaged and coerced into labour. If sanctions, as so many people insist, "do not change anything" in Burma then why the hell are the junta insisting Suu Kyi drop her plea for economic sanctions against them?

To the European Union: Targeted economic sanctions need to happen right now. This means a ban on all financial transactions, an investment ban and assets being frozen. Please sign the EU petition here.

Don't stop thinking about our brothers and sisters in Burma who are being hunted down, arrested and tortured as we speak, simply for voicing their desire for basic human rights and dignity in a country where such an existence is continually - and unbelievably - denied.

Burma: Silent Streets in Rangoon

October 2nd 2007. UN Special Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, is permitted a second meeting, for a duration of fifteen minutes, with Burma's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Will it be fruitful?

“The quest for democracy in Burma is the struggle of a people to live whole, meaningful lives as free and equal members of the world community. It is part of the unceasing human endeavor to prove that the spirit of man can transcend the flaws of his nature.”

Aung San Suu Kyi, Freedom From Fear

As we suspected, the number of killings and casualties during the crackdown on the uprising has far exceeded the figure given by the military regime. Far from the junta's figure of ten fatalities, eyewitnesses and reporters estimate that number to run into hundreds. Rangoon has been eerily quiet. Up to twenty thousand troops were deployed to keep it that way. The junta has said it has been "restrained". As we speak there are over 2,000 monks, activists and students unaccounted for. Monasteries have been raided, monks attacked in their sleep, clubbed and dragged away in trucks into the night. We will learn more in the coming days. The heart must break for Burma. Humanity really is fucked up in so many ways.

The UN special envoy to Burma, Mr. Ibrahim Gambari, has just left Burma, where he was given the usual treatment by the ruling junta. Meetings and photocalls. Tea and chit-chat. "Yes, Mr. Gambari we are working on a road map to democracy, as and when the people are ready for a disciplined democratic system". With China behind Burma, they have little to worry about.

Elections in the Ukraine and a Korean summit have pushed Burma out of the headlines. I hope that the international community keeps the pressure on the Burmese regime and that the plight of the people of Burma does not leave our consciousness.

GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION THIS WEEKEND: SATURDAY 6th OCTOBER.

SUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF BURMA

LONDON RALLY AND DEMO: 11am TATE BRITAIN