What century is it?

When I read the story of the Chagossians I felt such pain and sympathy for those people. The opening lines for Bob Marley's song "War" came to mind. For those unfamiliar with the song it goes like this:

"Until, the philosophy, that holds one race superior and another, inferior, is finally, and permanently, discredited, and abandoned, everywhere is war"

For me such an experience is comparbale only to the days of slavery .When our ancestors were taken forcibly from their homelands and told after returning that they had no right to steward the very lands that they had lived and died on for generations before the invaders even knew it existed. How can you not wish vengeance on those persons? At least that was the first thought.

Young children, young girls and women particularly are sold into slavery every day. That was the second thought. At the very least their land will still be their own... if they can get back there.

And what about Palestine and Israel the thought went on. Centuries of warfare. Palestine now has a government, democratically elected too, that does not recognise the right of its neighbour to exist. (Scratches head) For a second I thought we were in the 21st century, doesn't seem much different from the days of yore . Guess H.G. Wells didn't really need to do any research into time travel since we just repeat ourselves anyway.

Diego Garcia

I came across this particular piece of civil rights abuse while reading the UK Guardian. In a nutshell, the former British colony of Diego Martin lies in the Chagos Archipelago. The natives had been living there from the days of the slave trade up until the 1950s. The United States had been looking for a site to gain military advantage near the Indian Ocean. They identified a perfect spot on one of the islands near to Diego Garcia and wished to purchase it from the United Kingdom. Fine no problem.

Except....

There were some really exotic and unique flora and fauna on this particular isle. When word of the intended sale and use of the island came forward the environmentalists were outraged and managed to get the island out of harms way. However this still left the US with somewhere to place their base of operations, and Britain just a little bit poorer.

And so...

Casting around their eyes their gaze fell upon our ill fated island. It was in the right location, it was the right size & best of all it was uninhabited. Yep. Uninhabited, save for a few marginal people who could easily be removed to some convenient place. Well that's what they did.

Q.E.D. Actually

Never mind that it's illegal on top of being cruel and inhumane. So the island of Diego Garcia was secretly leased by Britain to the United States in exchange for some money and preferential trading rights.With an automatic extension to lease for 20 years after the original period expired. It was a secret because it was never cleared before the sitting parliaments and flatly denied as being inhabited to the public as well as other accountable bodies. The people of Diego Garcia were declared negligible. And then they were made negligible.

Imagine having your regular food supplies stopped from entering the country. Not immediately critical to be sure but ominous nontheless. Then armed forces enter your country and start poisoning your dogs then clubbing them to death. After that you and your family members, and everyone else's family members are packed up in some animal holding cells to be dumped on another sovereign territory many miles away.

Bad enough this happens to you, but then two separate court cases uphold the verdict that you were treated badly but basically the British Government doesn't have to deal with you. It just makes you want to go through some serious Old Testament style weeping and wailing and knashing of teeth. This month a differnt court case provided some amount of relief, the Chagossians were legally free to return to other Chagossian islands. While still not home, and still under pressure from both British and American governments not to return, it's a big step forward.

You can find out more by doing google searches for Diego Garcia, the book by John Pilger called "Freedom Next Time", the documentary by Pilger "Stealing a Nation" or http://www.infoplease.com/spot/dg.html

What a way to start a day.

Existence

I looked at the whorls of my fingerprints today. Each one unique, perfectly spaced and aligned. The white stripping skin on my right palm is old. Underneath is fresh and new. So many layers to this peeling onion. "I'll be dead one day", I thought. "I have a finite expiration date." I'm scared of dying. I'm still not comfortable with the concept of what existed before I was born. Tough luck for me. Because I am going to die one day. I better have children. My ego is unhappy that these dying cells won't have a permanent place in society, the only sure fire way to carry on is to dilute my line with someone else's genes. The half life of DNA ensures that some thing will remain. A throwback to my looks and personality maybe in another hundred years. Not the same. Not anywhere near the same as me.

I insist on my existence. hahaha. So much chaff on the wind right? Mustn't forget that one day I might want to die. Give up the struggle on a foam mattress with bed sores instead of stretch marks. A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, but euthanasia leaves a cerasee flavour. Thanks but no thanks for the help.

"So many different layers" I thought "all of them coming from a single renewing source." But my mind wanders finding the topic too self absorbed for it's liking. The irony of a blog. A fleeting thought pursued passionately, at least while it holds interest. Will that be my fate? A name discovered by accident while on a google search for a missed deadline assignment. Who knows. Who cares. I exist in the now.

Weeks 1- 2

Bwoy, mi neva know seh two weeks coulda fly so faas. Okay so here's the brief synopsis of the first two weeks. Week one had all the expected flub ups and tongue-twisting moments you could imagine. Highlights include words like levy and aluminium, scripts with sections of words missing and lengthy news reports. Week two saw a very slight improvement in the flub ups but dramatic difference in the flow between myself and my cohost. Awkward pauses smoothing out, but I won't stress too much over that. Week three will be even better.

The early morning rising isn't as bad as I had expected. The hardest part is getting out of the bed. Once I'm up though I'm good to go. The body has made adjustments and is getting into the groove. I have to put in a power nap in the afternoons however to make this adjustment though, but all the better for me. Niggeritis produces the same effect I find :D

In other news on the home front, I'll be budgeting my new found source of income veerrrryy carefully. I still have my eye on doing a masters early next year and I know I'm definitely going to have to foot some part of that bill. We'll see whether or not it can stretch to cover going to Trinidad next year for "di real lyme" (Amazing how these things all fall within the same general part of the year)

• At some point in time I'm going to watch "Glory to Glorianna", a locally produced , directed, and starred movie but for purposes of review. I'm looking for at least two persons to accompany me on this expedition. Volunteers are expected to provide their own fare and refreshments.
• The big brother is in rehersals for another musical. This one I can already recommend without having seen a costume rehearsal. It's called "Once on this Island" and features another great Campion product in fellow blogger www.gimmeasecond.blogspot.com . Do look out for more updates on this one.
• The next two weekends are going to be pan-demonium with a beach lyme and soul searching meeting this week, then the "Mobay or bust" Summer edition lyme the following week. Allow me to be the first to sing "what happens in the party /stays in the party" as there will be no spoilers or rehashes of that event on this site.

All in all, May promises to be a month to remember :-D

Curfew

On Monday I got to test Seeker's theory that I run off solar energy.

I started working as a newsreader at a local radio station ...great :-D. I get an extra source of income and experience in my field. I have to get out of bed by 4am to make it to the station at 5am .....Not so much fun now.Having to do this Monday - Friday.... looking even worse. Being in bed by 10:30 pm to get suffiecient sleep. Draw brakes! 10:30pm :S Say it isn't so. What kind of lymer goes to bed at 10:30. Ah well, such is life.

I must say being able to welcome the dawn every day has been an unexpected bonus. We'll see what the end of this week brings. Hope I'm awake long enough to do a synopsis.

You know it's that time of year when the emptiness of the bed isn't welcoming anymore. It's just the beginning of the third month. This is a disturbing trend. To be fair it's been 8mths in real terms .Likeliest solution is to simply spend less time at home. So....who's up for a lyme?