Karl Marx Master Card, from Rinaldo Rasa, Italy
zaterdag 30 juni 2012
vrijdag 29 juni 2012
donderdag 28 juni 2012
Dream about how the Amazonic forest still resists
Small painted envelope and collaged fragments for Clemente Padin in Uruguay
UNDER THE BANYAN TREE
Rebel
poem dedicated to anti-nuclear activists in India
In Kudankalum
under the banyan tree: Aswath Vriksha
A poem for the women of Kudankalum village
"I am Banyan, tree among trees" - Bhagavad Gita
Eyes of the world
briefly flutter
on this village
a patch of baked mud
around a solitary Banyan tree
this earth has bloomed in swaying blossoms
hundreds of women
saris wrapped around their heads their bodies
fragile shields against sun’s heat
woven in every conceivable tint and hue
of nature’s generous world
they sit and plan determined
to save their seeds
cloistered in wombs wrapped in silk and cotton
no protection from radiation.
they may not know how to write
or to read any human constructed language
but they understand messages from their bodies
like divine Ashwath Vriksha
they carry seeds of eternal life
unto countless generations
hidden in frail shell of their flesh
they can read messages of the atom from
Hiroshima to Fukushima
they prepare to starve to save the future
to save seeds of life from mutation
to protect their eggs that carry promise
of life for every succeeding generation
they sit and fast in sun’s golden heat
try to imagine the white heat of explosions
power of atoms divided
dust of deadly fallout.
their message is simple
no nuclear plants
go to the sea for power
reach to the sky for power
let us live, fish, garden in our earthly paradise
leave the future to bloom in vivid colours
let our granddaughters
their granddaughters
dance a tapestry of swaying flowers
with sacred banyan
Ashwath Vriksha
for life eternal.
Theresa Wolfwood – Canada, 2012
www.bbcf.ca
FREEDOM FOR THE INTERNET, the Battle continues!
Two years ago,
Richard O'Dwyer was in his second year of college in the U.K. In his spare time
he ran a website that acted as a search engine for users to find links to watch
TV and movies online.
He respected
the rules -- deleting content when he received requests to remove it. But
despite this, he’s now been accused of copyright violation and could
face 10 years in a U.S. prison, after the British Home Secretary,
Theresa May, signed an extradition order in March.
Richard is not
a U.S. citizen, he's lived in the U.K. all his life, his site was not hosted
there, and most of his users were not from the U.S. The U.S. is trying
to prosecute a U.K. citizen for an alleged crime which took place on U.K.
soil.
Given the thin
case against him, it is an outrage that he is being extradited to the U.S. to
face charges. That's why I've just launched a petition on Change.org
to stop his extradition -- and why I hope you will sign it today. Click here to
sign the petition.
When I met
Richard, he struck me as a clean-cut, geeky kid. Still a student, he reminds me
of many great entrepreneurs and the kind of person I can imagine launching the
next Wikipedia or YouTube.
Copyright
matters but from the beginning of the internet, we have seen a struggle between
the interests of the "content industry" and the general public.
Richard
is the human face of that battle, and if he's extradited and convicted,
he will bear the very real human cost.
The internet as
a whole must not tolerate censorship as a response to mere allegations of
copyright infringement. As citizens we must stand up for our rights
online.
Together, the
public won the battle against SOPA and PIPA. We proved that when we work
together we can protect freedom on the internet. Together, I know we
can win this battle too.
Thanks,
- Jimmy Wales,
Wikipedia Founder
TRIBUTE TO ROSALIE FROM TERRY
A great peace and anti-nuclear activist, a
scientist who exposed the dangers of radiation, a friend and inspiration to many
people around the world died on June 14, 2012. My tribute to this wonderful
woman is at: http://www.bbcf.ca/_articles/rosalie_bertell/rosalie_bertell.html
In peace, Terry
Theresa
Wolfwood
Director, Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation
Victoria, BC Canada
www.bbcf.ca bbcf@bbcf.ca
Director, Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation
Victoria, BC Canada
www.bbcf.ca bbcf@bbcf.ca
The Life and Work of Rosalie Bertell
A tribute by Theresa Wolfwood with photos by the author
On June 14, 2012 the world lost a great peace activist, scholar and scientist. I lost a friend and constant source inspiration when Rosalie died at the age of 83 years. She was frail from birth, constantly struggling against severe illness, but her spirit and mind were strong and courageous to the end. Her sisters wrote that, “Despite her illness, she remained in good spirits and most interested in all of the works of justice she strove to support throughout her life right to the end. She died very peacefully.” ”A friend calls her “fuerza companera!!” She was indeed a forceful companion in the work to create a better work.
“The continuity of life, the call for making things better for the next and the next generations blots out all hesitation…We have to be part of something larger than ourselves, because our dreams are often bigger than our lifetimes.”
These words of Rosalie’s are from an excellent biography of her life written in 2005 by Mary-Louise Engels: ROSALIE BERTELL: Scientist, Eco-Feminist, Visionary. Women’s Press, Women Who Rock series, Toronto, CANADA. See review on www.bbcf.ca
Rosalie had joint citizenship because she had a Canadian mother who was her inspiration and active supporter in social action. From her American father – the inventor of the car night mirror – she developed her scientific and practical abilities. Rosalie knew from a young age that she would enter a convent and take the religious life, much as she enjoyed her home, school and social life. She was in her teens at the end of WW2 and the war “challenged her beliefs about the goodness of the universe…the victory achieved through atomic fire in Japan raised questions that would preoccupy her throughout her life.” Her father, on a church investment committee after the war, refused to allow it to invest in the nuclear industry. Rosalie believes that the war never ended – that post-WW2, the USA and most of the world continue to arm and create a permanent war economy and mentality. She said our society was addicted to war.
Rosalie studied biometrics and gained a PhD (critics love to call her Sister Bertell, just a woman and a nun, not a real scientist.) Her concerns about the unleashing of atomic energy and weaponry on the world continued in her research and teaching career, she did original and ground breaking work connecting cancer to nuclear installations and low level radiation. She joined the Grey Nuns, an order with a historic tradition of social service which provided her with security and spiritual support.
We had many adventures together over the years; we first met at a Social Justice conference in Edmonton about 1981. I don’t remember why but at some point we dissolved into giggles over something and became friends. In 1986, we were together and the only women on the panel of the THE "PEOPLE'S ENQUIRY INTO THE IMPLICATIONS of Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges (CFMETR) at Nanoose Bay". This base near Nanaimo, BC is where the USA military tests its maritime weapons delivery systems. Later we were at a major women’s peacemaking conference in Halifax where Rosalie was too ill to deliver her presentation, so with much hilarity, I posed as her and spoke her words. She came to speak about her work in 1999; my report on that meeting is on www.bbcf.ca
A devout Christian and nun, Rosalie was never pious or preachy and rarely spoke about her faith. I was touched when she told me she prayed for me when I went to Iraq in 2001 on a medical aid mission. We were together at a women’s conference when she learned she had won the prestigious Right Livelihood Award of Sweden with her co-researcher Alice Stuart of the UK in 1986 and we went to a celebration of that honour at the Swedish embassy in Ottawa.
In his tribute to her, Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, said: "Rosalie Bertell was a pioneer of science for the people. She always put her vast knowledge at the service of the public and its right to know, and she never shied away from conflicts with powerful interests."
After an attempt on her life when she was en route to speak out against nuclear power plants in the USA, she moved back to Canada where she continued her research and advocacy for those exposed to and threatened by radiation – mine workers, those exposed to nuclear weapons tests, radiation leaks and workers in the nuclear industry. Rosalie founded the International Institute of Concern for Public Health in Toronto in 1984 which is dedicated to helping many communities “assess and improve their environmental health status.”
In 1995 we were together at a workshop at the UN Women’s Forum in Beijing where she made the unforgettable statement, “We can be our own media”. I made those words into a banner; 17 years later the prophecy of those words is seen our independent media and the use of the electronic media.
Rosalie’s dedication to her work took her from the islands of the South Pacific to Chernobyl to Bhopal in India and all over North America and much of the world; as a scientist and an activist her life was illuminated by her concern for the health of humanity and all life forms and the destructive effects of radioactivity.
I last visited her in 2004, she was anxious to cast her vote in the Canadian federal election, even though by then she had returned to the USA and was recovering from surgery that caused her to lose 15 cm of height in her already slight frame. If she was in pain, she never mentioned it. She was grateful to live in the protection of the mother house of her order with a well-equipped office where she never stopped working.
Her first book, No Immediate Danger: Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth was about the dangers of radiation and the cover-up of this major threat to health. She wrote and co-authored many articles and reports and her last solo book: Planet Earth: The latest weapon of war (also reviewed on www.bbcf.ca) was published in 2000 and it was the culmination of her experience as a researcher and activist. In it she reviews her work and experience leading to her conclusion that relentless blind militarization is our greatest threat to the earth’s environment and life – totally constructed by humans and certainly possible to change and deconstruct.
In Planet Earth Rosalie is optimistic about the possibility for change. She points out that our society has changed its core values – also attitudes and legislation- on many issues from women’s rights, children’s rights, animal welfare and homosexual rights. She believes we can and will change our values about militarization.
Rosalie’s life illustrates the possibility of a fulfilled and fruitful life as a scientist and an activist outside the mainstream establishment – something many of us hope to achieve. If I ever do, it will be with the guidance of Rosalie and her words:
“...in spite of fears of abuse, Earth is still an amazing and beautiful creation...It deserves our best efforts. Enjoy it, love it and save it!”
Thank you dear Rosalie, you remain part of that beautiful creation.
Terry
On June 14, 2012 the world lost a great peace activist, scholar and scientist. I lost a friend and constant source inspiration when Rosalie died at the age of 83 years. She was frail from birth, constantly struggling against severe illness, but her spirit and mind were strong and courageous to the end. Her sisters wrote that, “Despite her illness, she remained in good spirits and most interested in all of the works of justice she strove to support throughout her life right to the end. She died very peacefully.” ”A friend calls her “fuerza companera!!” She was indeed a forceful companion in the work to create a better work.
“The continuity of life, the call for making things better for the next and the next generations blots out all hesitation…We have to be part of something larger than ourselves, because our dreams are often bigger than our lifetimes.”
These words of Rosalie’s are from an excellent biography of her life written in 2005 by Mary-Louise Engels: ROSALIE BERTELL: Scientist, Eco-Feminist, Visionary. Women’s Press, Women Who Rock series, Toronto, CANADA. See review on www.bbcf.ca
Rosalie had joint citizenship because she had a Canadian mother who was her inspiration and active supporter in social action. From her American father – the inventor of the car night mirror – she developed her scientific and practical abilities. Rosalie knew from a young age that she would enter a convent and take the religious life, much as she enjoyed her home, school and social life. She was in her teens at the end of WW2 and the war “challenged her beliefs about the goodness of the universe…the victory achieved through atomic fire in Japan raised questions that would preoccupy her throughout her life.” Her father, on a church investment committee after the war, refused to allow it to invest in the nuclear industry. Rosalie believes that the war never ended – that post-WW2, the USA and most of the world continue to arm and create a permanent war economy and mentality. She said our society was addicted to war.
Rosalie studied biometrics and gained a PhD (critics love to call her Sister Bertell, just a woman and a nun, not a real scientist.) Her concerns about the unleashing of atomic energy and weaponry on the world continued in her research and teaching career, she did original and ground breaking work connecting cancer to nuclear installations and low level radiation. She joined the Grey Nuns, an order with a historic tradition of social service which provided her with security and spiritual support.
We had many adventures together over the years; we first met at a Social Justice conference in Edmonton about 1981. I don’t remember why but at some point we dissolved into giggles over something and became friends. In 1986, we were together and the only women on the panel of the THE "PEOPLE'S ENQUIRY INTO THE IMPLICATIONS of Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges (CFMETR) at Nanoose Bay". This base near Nanaimo, BC is where the USA military tests its maritime weapons delivery systems. Later we were at a major women’s peacemaking conference in Halifax where Rosalie was too ill to deliver her presentation, so with much hilarity, I posed as her and spoke her words. She came to speak about her work in 1999; my report on that meeting is on www.bbcf.ca
A devout Christian and nun, Rosalie was never pious or preachy and rarely spoke about her faith. I was touched when she told me she prayed for me when I went to Iraq in 2001 on a medical aid mission. We were together at a women’s conference when she learned she had won the prestigious Right Livelihood Award of Sweden with her co-researcher Alice Stuart of the UK in 1986 and we went to a celebration of that honour at the Swedish embassy in Ottawa.
In his tribute to her, Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, said: "Rosalie Bertell was a pioneer of science for the people. She always put her vast knowledge at the service of the public and its right to know, and she never shied away from conflicts with powerful interests."
After an attempt on her life when she was en route to speak out against nuclear power plants in the USA, she moved back to Canada where she continued her research and advocacy for those exposed to and threatened by radiation – mine workers, those exposed to nuclear weapons tests, radiation leaks and workers in the nuclear industry. Rosalie founded the International Institute of Concern for Public Health in Toronto in 1984 which is dedicated to helping many communities “assess and improve their environmental health status.”
In 1995 we were together at a workshop at the UN Women’s Forum in Beijing where she made the unforgettable statement, “We can be our own media”. I made those words into a banner; 17 years later the prophecy of those words is seen our independent media and the use of the electronic media.
Rosalie’s dedication to her work took her from the islands of the South Pacific to Chernobyl to Bhopal in India and all over North America and much of the world; as a scientist and an activist her life was illuminated by her concern for the health of humanity and all life forms and the destructive effects of radioactivity.
I last visited her in 2004, she was anxious to cast her vote in the Canadian federal election, even though by then she had returned to the USA and was recovering from surgery that caused her to lose 15 cm of height in her already slight frame. If she was in pain, she never mentioned it. She was grateful to live in the protection of the mother house of her order with a well-equipped office where she never stopped working.
Her first book, No Immediate Danger: Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth was about the dangers of radiation and the cover-up of this major threat to health. She wrote and co-authored many articles and reports and her last solo book: Planet Earth: The latest weapon of war (also reviewed on www.bbcf.ca) was published in 2000 and it was the culmination of her experience as a researcher and activist. In it she reviews her work and experience leading to her conclusion that relentless blind militarization is our greatest threat to the earth’s environment and life – totally constructed by humans and certainly possible to change and deconstruct.
In Planet Earth Rosalie is optimistic about the possibility for change. She points out that our society has changed its core values – also attitudes and legislation- on many issues from women’s rights, children’s rights, animal welfare and homosexual rights. She believes we can and will change our values about militarization.
Rosalie’s life illustrates the possibility of a fulfilled and fruitful life as a scientist and an activist outside the mainstream establishment – something many of us hope to achieve. If I ever do, it will be with the guidance of Rosalie and her words:
“...in spite of fears of abuse, Earth is still an amazing and beautiful creation...It deserves our best efforts. Enjoy it, love it and save it!”
Thank you dear Rosalie, you remain part of that beautiful creation.
Terry
woensdag 27 juni 2012
dinsdag 26 juni 2012
While drinking the latest cocktail LET US WATCH THE END OF THE WORLD
Collage by Robert Varlez, title by G V
RESIST WAR
Mailed to David Stone, USA.
maandag 25 juni 2012
zondag 24 juni 2012
zaterdag 23 juni 2012
La dispute entre maitre et servante et l’église les sépare comme arbitre
collage sur le choix entre solidarisme ou lutte de classes
Je t’assure chéri, il y a un monstre dans la mine
Collage satirique sur l’exploitation capitaliste
Mailed to Theresa Williams, USA
Mailed to Theresa Williams, USA
donderdag 21 juni 2012
REBELLION OF THE OPPRESSED BODY
From Ana Marta Austin, Brasil : dispatched by Terry Reid from Australia
dinsdag 19 juni 2012
maandag 18 juni 2012
zaterdag 16 juni 2012
S O L I D A R I T Y once and twice
First envelope for Helena Gath in France
Second envelope for Corral de Piedra in Argentina
donderdag 14 juni 2012
woensdag 13 juni 2012
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