Vibes And Pressure

“Do you believe that’s air you’re breathing now?” Morpheus.

 

Yeah rudie, I’m looking out of my window, seeing the glorious sunshine and kinda just appreciating all Nature offers us, the vastness of the gift that is this world and everything in it. I’m happy just 2 feel the sunlight on my skin, that’s the truth of the matter. Then I think abt all those whose journeys have finished b4 mine and r no longer on the trod 2 enjoy this experience with I an’ I, and that brings a little sadness. That is also the truth. Does the new truth cancel out the old truth? I guess it depends on how u see it. What I do kno is that headz that r considered leading authorities on this matter r not all in sync on this.

Peace.Love.Honour.One.

A mantra, a code, a guide. 1ce in a while I’ll get a 1 who’ll come at me and throw back a variation of some kind, like “why don’t u flip it like dis, fam!”, or take that variation and use it on their own thing. That’s cool wid me, all love, like breaking bread 2 make more bread. Wonderful. Me, I gotta keep it original tho, and not just 4 the sake of, bt bcos it’s more than just a flow of words that may or may not sound cool. This right here is a livity. When I said b4 that I keep it simple, what I meant is that I don’t always go as far as 2 break it down, mayb bcos I sometimes expect my closer peeps 2 kno (or b telepathic, yeah, I already kno, 1 of those traits I gotta work on… and I am trying) or grasp it just like that. So.. I will apologise 2 every1 that I did that with, this is me making amends, and setting it str8. This thing, p.l.h.o., is not actually 4 different things, kinda more like 4 in 1, or more accurately, 3 in 1,  the 1^st being the last and the last being the 1^st (Basic Instructions B4 Leaving Earth, 4 the original headz). Let me get 2 it.

Natty presents the Vibes and Pressure Shubeen, Every first Friday of the Month. With an array of eclectic artists of all styles and Calibre. Check out the information below to see what we have in store for you this month

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We all have a few things that we love 2 h8, and if we were 2 b truly revealing, things that we h8 2 love. Not that I an’ I wants 2 tell u abt love, as there r so many giants who can speak on this, bt there r just some things that just slip in there, and 4ever remain. Things like that fam member who just rolls up in yr life and always leaves u just a bit worse off than when they arrived, the double choc cake that calls yr name whenever u walk past it, Barry Manilow songs yr moms used 2 make u listen 2 (come on now, y’all kno “pina coladas” is a classic!). Ting is, even tho we associate these tings with negativity, or with things and times that weren’t always the best, the love is still there, so we don’t ever really let dem go.

4 me, it’s that N word. Yeah… I kno, right?

Nigger. That word we all love 2 h8, more revealing that the Emperor’s new clothes, more explosive than semtex, more welcoming than an embrace. Yet there r other words, words that denote the same thing; jiggaboo, jungle bunny, coon, spade, wog, spear chucker… only thing is tho, they don’t. Not really. Don’t get it twisted, each of those is offensive, bt THAT word, it says so much more.

I was checking out the opium box recently, and there was a man on there, well established in the skism, revered and almost beyond reproach. So dude was doing his thing, being the voice of moderation, balancing out the opinions of others, and facilitating a bunch of heads 2 bathe themselves in their intellectual understandings and give themselves props. Now they were discussing how 1 of the immigrants who had been given the opportunity 2 step thru the glass ceiling and got 2 b celebrated had misbehaved and stepped out of line, made even worse by the fact that not only had this happened b4, bt that no 1 had reminded them of their place. All well and good. Bt den it descended n2 a bit of he said/she said, an’ in the midst of this reh reh the dude, showing his sensitivity and understanding of issues made a point of questioning the existence of certain hypocrisies by saying that referring 2 some1 as white isn’t the same as saying the N word. Only dude didn’t say “the N word”. Dude said Nigger.

U kno, I get it, he was using the word in the context of its significance, and there was no hint of either an expression of bias or intent.

Yet it still pulled me up. I immediately scanned my memory of the last few minutes. Was there some underlying prejudice, was the dude, or indeed the broadcaster trying 2 pull a ting (happens all the time), or was it just a power move, like “if I can intellectualise a term and concept (tho it mayb a vessel of h8) and refer 2 it dispassionately as a point of reference… then in the company of intelligent people there shd b no issue”. Bt I wasn’t feeling that, feel me? My 1st reaction 2 this was “did dude really just… no... What?... no… what exactly… really??... How dare he!”

Anyhoo, the moment passed, and I allowed myself 2 b engrossed in the subject matter at hand. Bt still, it kinda stuck with me 4 a time, and not just the moment itself, bt my reaction 2 it. As far as I cld tell it was just an intellectual exercise and dat was dat; no harm, no foul. So why did it bother me? We all value free speech, and if we all felt freer 2 spk our minds, we’d probably b more evolved as a collective, if not a society (even if there is no such ting as some heads believe). Dude shd b able 2 say whatever. It just felt wrong, square peg ting, unnatural, like sheep going “moo!”, and…..invasive, like some1 all up in yr home uninvited, opening up stuff they have no business getting into… a violation. Just like that, like this is yrs 2 take and use as u feel.

Hold up! Even as I came 2 this realisation, I had 2 question it. Not yrs?? So is it mine? So what now, I’ma take ownership of “nigger”? This is crazy, with all the connotations that r implied with THIS word, it’s mine..?

So I start 2 think back, think of my moms telling me how, as a girl, a shopkeeper spat on a piece of fish she bought when he thought she wasn’t looking, how my uncles an’ cousins an’ dem had 2 kick off club doors back in the day, just so they cld have a gd time in an orderly fashion, my brother as a young child wld visit his white friend up the road, and his dad wld announce “yr little nigger friend is here 2 play”. I thought abt how this word, this 1 word, had its origins, a word that was used 2 dehumanise and bedevil men and women, and in doing so disempower them of the most basic of rights afforded 2 any individual. Most importantly, how this idea gave rise 2 self h8, and that said individuals r, by the natural order, less deserving, and r of less worth. Don’t doubt it 4 a second, Nigger, at its root origin, is an idea, a concept, an ideology and a lifestyle choice.

Yeah, I hear u, “yo, Corrd, wha’ u mean lifestyle choice?? What u sayin’, dat a man choose dat??” Well, yeah. Don’t flip now, bt here’s where it’s at. The idea was dat some of us r superior, others beneath, inferior, subservient. Now, that’s cool if u r in the superior category, bt what if the others (an’ bear in mind that we all need “others” 2 reassure us of our values, our status, our righteousness) don’t quite get that, well then u need 2 conceptualise this, an’ reinforce that conceptualisation, so every1 kno’s who is who. I cld spk on this in extreme depth, bt there r so many learned heads who have done so, an’ whereas I an’ I may differ in opinion on certain tings, my perspective may b no more valid. Look it up if u don’t already kno. The bottom line is that the concept needed 2 b spread, preached an’ forcibly ingrained so as 2 take root. In fact, the whole skizm had 2 b geared in this way so that moving 4ward there is a comprehensive vision, a world view, an ideology. When this is put 2 those who r already classed as 3/5ths of a human being, as well as preached 2 them as being the Holy an’ natural order, then if yr thinking is 2 do what is right, the social ideal, what is after all only Holy and natural, then 4 them NOT choose that life is 2 go against everything as it is, the whole system, an’ we all kno how dat game ends. So those of us in the superior category offer a narrow choice. Chose the path laid out 4 u, or die trying (whilst watching yr loved 1’s also suffer an’/or die). No need 2 bitch tho, still had a choice.

So time moves on and slavery ends, yet the nigger ideology, and all that comes with it, still prevails. It adapts and finds new methods of manifestation. We all kno how dat goes. Restrictive legislation, mores an’ taboos in place, white sheeted peeps, fiery crosses, closed communities, all under the guidance of us in the superior category. Many in the inferior category even choose 2 stand and fight 4 the skism, 2 b soldiers in wartime conflicts, both in civil disputes and worldwide, yet at the end of these wars there was no just compensation, or even the slightest recognition. As brother Malcolm said, 1 man puts a noose around the other man’s neck, both shouting out 2 Heaven, and the man with the noose around his neck wonders why no1 answers his prayer. Funny story.

Dr Carter G Woodson dropped the science like so, "if you can control a man’s thinking, you don’t have to worry about his actions. If you can determine what a man thinks you do not have worry about what he will do. If you can make a man believe that he is inferior, you don’t have to compel him to seek an inferior status, he will do so without being told and if you can make a man believe that he is justly an outcast, you don’t have to order him to the back door, he will go to the back door on his own and if there is no back door, the very nature of the man will demand that you build one.”

Things an' times keep moving, and all kinds of upheaval take place. There r movements 4 social justice, civil rights, suffragettes, nuff upheaval, an’ the ideology keeps doing what it does best. Now we have peeps in both categories so entrenched, that the very idea of choice seems like some dim reality. The vibrancy of youth is a beautiful spectacle 2 behold, as it pushes an’ presses an’ bucks against the status quo in its uniquely infectious way.

So many things change, bt we all still have the word. That word. Bt, here’s something really funny. Those in the lesser category, they found that they could take the ideology, break the concept, and redefine the word. Nigga!! Indeed fam, take a term of h8, of disenfranchisement, of self-loathing, of debasement, an’ flip dat, use it 2 express a shared understanding, experience, even camaraderie, not so as 2 hold on 2 the definitions of those who r lesser somehow, bt as a bonding of peoples having gone thru gr8 tribulations, a reminder of what was, a guide 2 a higher reality an’ a warning 4 the continued struggle.

That’s not 2 say dat the positive cancels the negative, and the original ideology still holds sway, even in this time of redefinition. In fact many wld say that this redefinition is nothing more than the old ways from the bad old days having a face lift so as 2 recapture and re(mis)educate newer generations. Both views hold some merit. I an’ I recognise the supposed hypocrisy. Bt then isn’t this journey abt sometimes ALL of us embracing our fears, both within and without? How else do we reach out 2 those we’ve vilified, or deal with the villain within?

Nigga.

New ideology? Hmm... Nigga, as both Signifier and Sign. A demonstration of what was and what cld b. Nigga, beyond nigger. Nietzsche’s Übermensch revealed somehow. Now dat’s some blow yr mind/defile yr boxers shit right there. The ultimate evolution. Is that the fear, some planet of the apes type future where the oppressed become oppressors? C, as I an’ I overstand dis ting, Nietzsche’s whole ting was looking at humanity an', coming 2 the conclusion dat our development wld progress without rather than within via our constructs and artifices, the Übermensch or “Overman” (or Superman) wld b the next step of dominant evolution. Bt, this Overman isn't so much the new ruler of the world, or the threat 2 our existence we need 2 b vigilant against, lest only 1 of us can inherit the Earth, some kinda war 4 dominance ting the smoke/mirrors industry try 2 frighten us with. We've seen how the theory can get warped in the hands of a skilled, passionate, intelligent leader... Hitler damn near destroyed the world (scarier still is that some of his opponents weren't adverse 2 his ideas, just his power lust!). Peep this grasshopper, the overman was never some scary mutant here 2 conquer, bt is 1 who moves from the crowd view and finds a new perspective while not needing 2 force it on others, a living testament of the way 4ward, a concept we cld all embrace in this time of realignment (see the blog times r changing). 2 look at how such negatives flower n2 blessings that humanity can all hold on 2 may b a bit wishful, then again...

Bt the word, this word. The love/h8 conflict subsides so that I an’ I am brought bk 2 the dude, an’ yet as I reflect, it still bothers me. I apprecilove the intellectuality, bt some tings r more than just dat. Some tings u feel, u carry, u pay 4 with the sweat of yr brow. As much as I can pree where he’s coming from, an’ whereas it’s not my word, or any1 else’s 4 dat matter, 2 delegate the usage of, I feel that this word, the N word, Nigga, that word, even with the enlightened perspective it may or may not have, this word is still a burden on us, yeah.. u, me, him, her, all. Our history, our journey, our coming 2gether in the 1ness that we all r. Not a burden 2 b laid down and discarded, bt the burden of its own truths, a burden, the right of which has 2 b earned. Not taken. Neither decided on by some intellectual exercise, nor some politricksical pandering. Not bartered, bt earned.

Earned, like the scars our mothers carry 4 birthing us, the war wounds of their labour of love. I can wax lyrical all day abt childbirth, see it up close, try 2 use examples 2 give clarity and definition, paint a scenario 2 explain it all in gr8 detail. Bt as I say the words, I can't spk their truth, so the words r hollow, false, cos I can never kno that ecstasy, pain, responsibility, that burden.

Not all of us can or shd carry this, cos not all of us can spk on this. Bt some of us can try, even if we disagree on how best 2 carry it, until all of us reach that promised land of the Übermensch. Bt then, when we all get there, none of us will b over any1 else, we will just b.

p.l.h.o.


Corrd the Seeker.

This is an excerpt from a book I’m studying at the moment called The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch in which he sums up consumer culture beautifully. It was written in 1979 about American culture so some of his examples, especially towards the end, are a bit dated but I think his ideas can easily, and worryingly, be transferred to present day Britain.

The Chapter is called “The Banality of Pseudo-Self Awareness: Theatrics of Politics and Everyday Existence.”

The sub heading is “The Propaganda of Commodities.”


“In the early days of industrial capitalism, employers saw the workingman as no more than a beast of burden – ‘a man of the type of the ox,’ in the words of the efficiency expert Frederick W. Taylor. Capitalists considered the worker purely as a producer; they cared nothing for the worker’s activities in his leisure time – the little leisure that was left to him after twelve or fourteen hours in the factory. Employers attempted to supervise the worker’s life on the job, but their control ended when the worker left the factory at closing time. Even when Henry Ford established a Sociological Department at the Ford Motor Works in 1914, he regarded the supervision of the workers’ private lives merely as a means of making the men sober, thrifty, industrious producers. Ford’s sociologists attempted to impose an old-fashioned Protestant morality on the labour force; they inveighed against tobacco, liquor, and dissipation.

Only a handful of employers at this time understood that the worker might be useful to the capitalist as a consumer; that he needed to be imbued with a taste for higher things; that an economy based on mass production required not only the capitalistic organisation of production but the organisation of consumption and leisure as well. “Mass production”, said the Boston department store magnate Edward A. Filene in 1919, “demands the education of the masses; the masses must learn to behave like human beings in a mass produced world… They must achieve, not mere literacy, but culture.” In other words, the modern manufacturer has to “educate” the masses in the culture of consumption. The mass production of commodities in ever-increasing abundance demands a mass market to absorb them.

The American economy, having reached the point where its technology was capable of satisfying basic material needs, new relied on the creation of now consumer demands – on convincing people to buy goods for which they are unaware of any need until the ‘need’ is forcibly brought to their attention by the mass media. Advertising, said Calvin Coolidge, ‘is the method by which the desire is created for better things.’ The attempt to ‘civilise’ the masses has now given rise to a society dominated by appearances – the society of the spectacle. In the period of primitive accumulation capitalism subordinated being to having [my italics]; the use value of commodities to their exchange value. Now it subordinates possession itself to appearance and measures exchange value as a commodity’s capacity to confer prestige - the illusion of prosperity and well-being. “When economic necessity yields to the necessity for limitless economic development,” writes Guy Debord, “the satisfaction of basic and generally recognised human needs gives way to an uninterrupted fabrication of pseudo-needs.”

In simpler times, advertising merely called attention to the product and extolled its advantages. Now it manufactures a product of its own; the consumer, perpetually unsatisfied, restless, anxious, and bored.
Advertising serves not so much to advertise products as to promote consumption as a way of life. It ‘educates’ the masses into an unappeasable appetite not only for goods but for new experiences and personal fulfilment. It upholds consumption as the answer to the age-old discontents of loneliness, sickness, weariness, lack of sexual satisfaction; at the same time it creates new forms of discontent peculiar to the modern age. It plays seductively on the malaise of industrial civilisation. Is your job boring and meaningless? Does it leave you with feelings of futility and fatigue? Is your life empty? Consumption promises to fill the aching void; hence the attempt to surround commodities with an aura of romance; with allusions to exotic places and vivid experiences; and with images of female breasts from which all blessings flow.

The propaganda of commodities serves a double function. First, it upholds consumption as an alternative to protest or rebellion. Paul Nystrom, an early student of modern marketing, once noted that industrial civilisation gives rise to a “philosophy of futility,” a pervasive fatigue, a “disappointment with achievement” that finds an outlet in changing the “more superficial things in which fashion reigns.” The tired worker, instead of attempting to change the conditions of his work, seeks renewal in brightening his immediate surroundings with new goods and services.


In the second place, the propaganda of consumption turns alienation itself into a commodity. It addresses itself to the spiritual desolation of modern life and proposes consumption as the cure. It not only promises to palliate all the old unhappiness to which flesh is heir; it creates or exacerbates new forms of unhappiness – personal insecurity, status anxiety, anxiety in parents about their ability to satisfy the needs of the young. Do you look dowdy next to your neighbours? Do you own a car inferior to theirs? Are your children as healthy? As popular? Doing as well in school? Advertising institutionalises envy and its attendant anxieties.

The servant of the status quo, advertising has nevertheless identified itself with a sweeping change in values, a “revolution in manners and morals” that began in the early years of the twentieth century and has continued until the present. The demands of the mass-consumption economy have made the work ethic obsolete even for workers. Formerly the guardians of public health and morality urged the worker to labour as a moral obligation; now they teach him to labour so that he can partake of the fruits of consumption. In the nineteenth century, elites alone obeyed the laws of fashion, exchanging old possessions for new ones for no other reason than that they had gone out of style. Economics orthodoxy condemned the rest of society to a life of drudgery and mere subsistence. The mass production of luxury items new extends aristocratic habits to the masses. The apparatus of mass promotion attacks ideologies based on the postponement of gratification; it allies itself with the sexual “revolution”; it sides or seems to side with women against male oppression and with the young against the authority of their elders. The logic of demand creation requires that women smoke and drink in public, move about freely, and assert their right to happiness instead of living for others. The advertising industry thus encourages the pseudo-emancipation of women, flattering them with this insinuating reminder, “You’ve come a long way, baby” and disguising the freedom to consume as genuine autonomy. Similarly it flatters and glorifies youth in the hope of elevating young people to the status of fully fledged consumers in their own right, each with a telephone, a television set, and a hi-fi in his own room. The “education” of the masses has altered the balance of forces withering the family, weakening the authority of the husband in relation to the wife and parents in relation to their children. It emancipates women and children from patriarchal authority, however, only to subject them to the new paternalism of the advertising industry, the industrial corporation, and the state.*


*Family life, according to Nystrom, inherently tends to promote custom, the antithesis of fashion.

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iRebel

I was shopping in the supermarket the other day and I looked over to a girl with bleach blonde hair and automatically began to imagine her life. I began making judgments about her choices and perceived circumstances. Then, as I’m consciously trying not to judge people at the moment, I stopped myself. I mean hmm who was shopping in Asda in the first place…

While I was reminding myself that we all are doing our best with the information that is available to us in the circumstances we are in and have been in, and we not all that different from each other deep down, I realised that when I make judgements about people I have to separate myself from them. They become ‘Those people’ instead of ‘Us’

Thinking about it I realised that I make judgements about people all the time and perhaps that was why I was feeling so isolated recently. Perhaps this feeling of disconnection was happening because I had had to separate myself from other people so that I could judge them without feeling guilty.

It then made me think about what happens when I judge aspects of myself. Do I separate aspects of myself from myself through making judgements about myself until there is hardly anything left of myself in myself… if that makes sense

Making judgements about each other is what separates us from each other, and I Guess I’ve been told that before in not so many words, but this time I actually understood it

And if this is the truth then it’s not surprising that most of the time the media encourages us to make judgements about other and we even use it as entertainment these days in programmes like Big Brother or X factor.

If we are going to take back the power then we have to reunite with each other and perhaps that means that we have to stop judging each other negatively, and maybe even positively?

Do you know what I mean?


iRebel

If you want to see some grade A brainwashing on terrestrial TV then make sure you turn to ITV1 at 8PM on Tuesdays…

Last Tuesday I was round my Dad’s house and we were sitting after dinner having a chat with the TV on in the background. In the middle of our conversation I was suddenly distracted by loud aggressive noises coming from the TV of a door being broken and police raiding someone house.

What I was witnessing was the weekly instalment of a programme called Cops With Cameras. I haven’t watched TV in a while, so maybe the desensitising effect of watching TV has worn off, because although I’ve seen programmes like this many times before this time I was shocked to see this kind of imagery being shown as entertainment and at prime time on a channel like ITV1.

With fresh eyes the programme struck me as absurd and sinister. Is this really what is considered entertainment these days? What happened to Cilla Black and Bruce Forthsyth? Family Fortunes is entertainment. Not policemen breaking doors in and frightening people out of their wits...

And it’s on for an hour.. every week! Come on man, how can anybody be entertained by this week in week out? (Although saying that 2.31 million people were watching last week!)

Apart from fulfilling a disturbing voyeuristic gratification it seems to me that this kind of ‘entertainment’ has another purpose. The reason why images of police raiding other people’s houses are being beamed into our brains is so that we are acutely aware of what will happen if we break the law. It seems kind of obvious. The outrageous part of it is that they have the audacity to do this under a flimsy guise of entertainment then stick it on at prime time on an established and perhaps respected channel like ITV1 - pre-watershed. And then to keep people interested they use well known media attention holding techniques (i.e. hypnotism) by having quick cuts, fast paced, shaky camera action and dramatic music, better known as Jolts that release pleasurable chemicals in the brain. (Check out the book by Dr Aric Sigman called Remote Controlled for more info about that.)

For me these programmes have taken on an even more sinister edge since I found out that anything written that is judged to be inciting any kind of illegal behaviour (excuse me but what about the freedom of speech) means that as activists the chances of police knocking down our doors could be a real possibility in the future.

I’ve written a strongly worded letter to ITV1 and I’ll let you know what they say…

Peace.


iRebel

If you have read any of my pieces you may be aware that I haven’t got the fortitude to sit down and churn out one piece in one sitting. At the rate things are going in this world right now, not finishing a piece of writing, is liable to render all your thoughts irrelevant because of the simple fact that information is being spread so quickly. When I watched the scenes on the news during the riot I had a similar feeling to what I had during 9/11 or 7/7. (Note to any new readers; I am a conspiracy theorist extraordinaire, I scare myself sometimes) I was seeing it all with my own eyes but something was not quite right. For one thing the news coverage of the “revolution” was rather strange. On the evening of Monday 8 August they were showing the same images over and over again. Okay, so there may be an issue with scarcity of footage, but I can only watch the same “mindless thug” looting or fighting with the Gestapo…..I mean the Metropolitan police force before I start to transform like the Hulk into my conspiracy theorist alter-ego. The bottom line is repeating the same image over and over again has an effect on your psyche.

If I recall the coverage there were a few types of images that were prominent. 1. Fires burning but hardly any being put out. 2. Looting with no police. 3. Youths fighting with the police (The brave ones out front, in their hoodies, whilst the police were in full riot gear) 4.The Aftermath (i.e. destruction, destruction, destruction.) It seemed by the reporting methods that there was an agenda when the riot were being reported and in many cases the riots that were reported never actually happened in the way the newscaster stated.
Nowadays when I watch the news a little method that I use which helps me to “read between the lines” is to imagine that I’m watching a film and ask myself “what is it that these actors need us to believe? (It’s fun and it works every time!)
In the case of these riots or “disorder” as the police try to term it, they want us to believe that our young people are out of control in their hoodies, and they want to kill, maim, burn, loot and pillage. From my recollection there were reports of riots and/or looting in Camden, Chalk farm, Ealing, Bayswater, Hackney, Woolwich. I even heard that they were planning to attack the mass ritual Olympic site.

The plot read like a Hollywood disaster movie. Our “leader” was away on holiday apparently the third one this year, no doubt taking a break from the incestuous relationship he was having with the police and the media. Correct me if I’m wrong but just before these riots hit, the tabloids were in phone hacking city. The right wing on the big fat political bird was taking the flak for the shit that went down when the left wing of the political bird was in power. (Please note that both wings are on the same bird, so you really have to choose the same tired old chicken when you vote) He stayed away whilst Tottenham burned, following the murder of a “gangsta” who came from the Broadwater Farm estate. Hindsight is great thing but I honestly thought that there was going to be a riot after I heard Mark Duggan had been shot. My reasoning? The amount of civil unrest and general dissatisfaction that authority faces is increasing around the world. We’ve seen, in this country the student riots against fees and the wave of uprisings in the so called Middle East. We have all seen with our eyes the power of the people and what it can and will achieve.
In days of old, our leaders would be out front charging into battle but now they are pampered and protected. When SamCam’s husband came back, he started all the tough talk, and promptly held an emergency meeting with the rather sinister name of COBRA. It’s an acronym for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A. (I wonder what goes on in Cabinet Office Briefing Room B? Not much I presume, and COBRB doesn’t quite have the same reptilian ring to it)

Now the courts are issuing draconian sentences for looters who committed crimes against property. I’m not condoning burning people’s homes, and acts of violence against small and private business, but stealing from JD sports or Carphone Warehouse? While it’s stupid and petty, it’s hardly evil. The media have demonised looters and rioters, to the extent a mother even informed on her own child.
On the evening of the day after the shooting, I drove up to the stretch of road were Mark was assassinated (Yes I said it. Before you dismiss me a conspiracy theorist extraordinaire I quote my good friend Mr Wik Pedia, An assassination is "to murder (a usually prominent person) by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons."[1][2] An additional definition is "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons." So that’s why I have decided to call it an assassination. Is revenge for the killing of a police officer political enough? Not sure? Okay, you call it what you want.

Mark came from an estate where during a riot following the death of a member of the black community a police officer was brutally murdered and no one has ever been convicted.(If that’s not a political motivation, I’m a conspiracy theorist extraordinaire) Anyway, as I was saying I attempted to drive up past Blackhorse Road and the road was blocked off. In my mind I was thinking “why have they blocked off such a large section of the road?” According to the reports that were put out following the killing, Mark was said to have fired first. To me that sounded fishy, but if that was the truth it would have been an open and shut case, and we would conclude that Mr Duggan was suicidal. I‘m not condoning police brutality, but remember we are in a country where the police killed an electrician who walked into Stockwell tube station, so firing rounds at armed police (who no doubt need little excuse to fire) is a sure fire way to get your arse well and truly killed.

When the first reports came out stating that Mark had shot at police I thought the likelihood of that to be dubious. The police allowed that version of events to be circulated, knowing that not to be the case. As the shooting happened in broad daylight, all any witnesses would have seen was the police executing a seemingly innocent man. The thing is; there was a wave of misinformation by the media, after Mark was shot. For at least 3 or 4 days all we heard was that he had shot at police, and the fact that one of the police had a bullet lodged in his radio. It turned out later that the bullet was police issue and Mark had not shot at the police.
When Jean Charles De Menezes was shot it was said that he had run away from police down into Stockwell tube station, wearing a bag with wires coming out. It later turned out that he had been followed into the underground station after he had used an oyster card to get through the barriers. (Not leaped over them as it was first reported) When the police cornered him they shot him eight or nine times in the head in front of passengers who probably though Halloween had come early. I picked up on the similarity between the murder of Mark Duggan and the murder of Jean Charles De Menezes. This similarity was way the media allowed lies about the shootings to be circulated to the public.To me, coupled with the level of dissatisfaction with authority in the world at present, shooting someone from the Black community with a connection to an estate where there was a riot following the death of someone from the Black community equates to a march/protest at the very least and another riot at the worst.

The looting was the result of the perception that the police had lost control of the situation. In my opinion the police never lost control of the situation. It was rather a case of them relinquishing control .My belief is that the looting in Tottenham and Wood Green was allowed to happen. There were military Police at the junction of White Hart Lane and Tottenham High Road at approximately 5am on the Sunday morning. We had received “Intelligence” that looting was going on in Wood Green but the authorities did nothing to prevent it. It would have taken one police car, one armoured black military police vehicle to drive down and stop the looting in Wood Green. News of this spread swiftly and the rest is history. This has now created a climate where people are being criminalised for theft of minor items or in some cases stealing no items at all, and the prisons are filled to the brim, all in time for the Olympics. A little too much orchestration if you ask me but what do I know?

The current climate is one of economic and political uncertainty. The Student riots, the upheaval in the Middle East and all the marches against the cuts are evidence of the tension. We have also seen unrest in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal. The government would have us believe that the riots were perpetrated by materialistic young people who didn’t care about the death of Mark Duggan. I believe that there was a great deal of opportunism mixed in with a general disillusionment with the system. The fact that ‘normal’ people who had never gotten in trouble with the police before have now been caught up in the penal system is very ironic. I believe that the ‘system’ is aware that there is genuine anti-government sentiment in the air. In one dastardly chess move, we now have a climate where the police have an excuse to increase their powers and the public have almost consented to this. The papers were showing images of ‘thugs’ caught on camera and encouraging people to ‘shop a moron’ they are actively trying to create a climate where we are doing the snooping and the detective work for the police.
Those involved in the riots were acting out what many had been feeling for a long time. In my mind, they were like an aspect of (my) subconscious energy taking the law in into their own hands. It’s funny how the police are now running around picking up people and pushing them through the courts for committing the same crimes that founded America and most of the old British Empire. To dismiss the underlying irony is dangerous. The looting was in most part against property and large stores. With all the talk of cuts in spending and government debt, many people feel they are being ripped off in the UK today and that sentiment was one of the factors driving the unrest. I recall when petrol prices started rising astronomically a couple of years ago there was a blockade carried out by lorry drivers and the prices dropped, accordingly. Petrol is now over £1 a litre and we are in more testing economic times now than we were then. No blockade, no complaints just acceptance.

The other issue that these riots bought up was the issue of race. I watched as the media attempted to racialise events. The murder of the three young men in Birmingham was one of the most poignant moments for me in the media coverage of the riots. Three young men of Asian origin were tragically killed when a car was driven into them following a brick being thrown into a car window. As far as I am aware the suspects for those murders were all black, but from my understanding there are long seated tensions between the Black and Asian communities in some parts of Birmingham. The media quite rightly highlighted the dignity of the father of one of the young men who was killed and then they went on to show solidarity from different communities against the looters/stroke rioters. I saw and heard stories of Sikhs in Southall, the Turkish community in Hackney and the broom wielding community in Clapham, who were predominately although not exclusively white. There was not a media representation of the resistance from the Black community. The Black community was either perpetrator or victim. The images showed rioters of all ages all races and of both sexes. The multiculturalism that supposedly won London the Olympics was now turning on the government. Black culture was blamed, rap music, even the slang spoken on the streets, blackberrys and Facebook were also accused. The latest that I’ve heard, Ken Clarke said it was caused by, and l quote "a feral underclass" . Wow!!!!!Are you hearing the language? The mention of class is ironic because these riots were defiantly fuelled by inequality, whether real or perceived.

I see these events as symbolic of the changes in consciousness. As they say change is the only constant. The one thing we can be sure of is that the world needs more balance, and the amount of energy that it’s going to take to create lasting real change is probably directly proportional times about 100, to the amount of energy it took to create it. So let’s see if we can all be part of the change.

Peace and Love DM

I wrote a song about a month ago as we were putting the finishing touches to recordings we had done for my upcoming EP. The song's title is "Change". It was just a little vibes that turned into a bit of a tune;-). Anyway, once the song was recorded I felt a great sense of release that has only come with a very few of tunes I have written. To be a vessel of words, sound and power can sometimes be spiritually exhausting hence the sense of release I speak of. However, this song stayed with me a lot longer than I thought it would, partly due to the mood on the streets of London (and UK). As I watched the riots unfold, more and more i started to connect with these same words I had just written down. Here is a quick sample of the song.....

"Theres a new breeze i can feel a change coming in the air
the leaves are on the ground, but summers only just appeared
as I look to the sky the sun got a different kinda glare
as i look into the eyes of the youth i see no more fear......

"...Change dont come in a day
but everytime the whole world spin around we going somewhere
As the seasons change we'll find a way
But just remember change wont come in a day...."


The song will be released as part of my upcoming EP in either late September or October, as I feel it necessary to release it post Ethiopian new year. Over the past few years as I have observed and lived and written songs, one of the things I have noticed is how alienated young people feel. Yeah, yeah, I know everyone talking is about that now on all the news channels, but I ask myself why it has taken this ting to happen for elders to sit up and take notice.

I had an (friendly) argument with one of my rasta elders as to why little real efforts were being made as a unit to connect with the yout's on the wrong side of the poverty line, it's not the responsibility of the old to guide the young. We can't rely on them people in power to provide funding and youth centres when they're busy trying to fill us wit propaganda and fight or their bullshit causes. Lets take care of ourselves. Anyway let me not go in too deep, I could go on 4eva on that subject.

If you wanna hear me and my brethren ramble on more about this type of thing stay tuned to this page or more to come.

Anyway to link this reasoning back to the song.... Change takes time and effort. We just have to (truly) will it and it will manifest. Now is the time, the time is now etc.... anyway I have taken a break for a while in terms of releasing material. So now is the time for... "Change". Look out for it over the upcoming weeks and stay tuned into the website and the blogspot.

"....As the seasons change we'll find a way
But just remember change wont come in a day...."


Peace and Love

Vibes and Pressure

N

...so the events of last week has played heavily on my mind.
I sat down to write this about 6 times but each time I just stared at the computer screen and there were so many words that my fingers just could not move quick enough.

Every1 been talking about the Riots. But more and more I am starting to wonder what exactly talking achieves. Everyone talking about the looters, Every1 talking about these hooligans, everyone talking about jobless, lazy young people. Some people talking about organization amongst the gangs, some people talking about revolution, some people talking about rubber bullets and the army, hardly any1 talking about Mark Duggan, some people talking about the racsism in this country, a few more people talking about the poverty line.... anyway there's a whole heap of talking going on.

So I thought I'd just Listen!

Prior to listening I was observing!

I stood observing with my two feet planted on Tottenham High Road, yet ready to move when the "fire" got "too hot". How I came to be in Tottenham on that same night is pure coincidence, but that's another story. Even though my heart was racing and palms were sweating, what I saw that night didn't surprise me one bit. I know it sounds mad but there is no effect without cause and the yout's been crying out 4 a while, for the past ten years I been writing songs about my generation and our youngers.... as i say cause and effect.

However what did surprise me was the willingness to destroy our own shops and houses as opposed to the buildings that symbolize babylon. All I can speak of are the frontline brothers I saw at 1am, charred from fire sprayed out by the chopper, wounded from armshousing police officers. That night I saw a wild angry freedom in the eyes of "the rioters". I was there late when there were no more looters, the only ones left were the ones not there 4 free trainers.The only ones left just wanted to lick down them same police that stop and search them. The only ones left were the "angry voice of the youth" crew, not the "free trainers" crew. Black and White united through poverty aiming all their frustrations, anger, burning sticks and stones at the modern-day human symbol of western oppression - The riot police!

The second thing that surprised me was the little action taken by the police, especially to stop the looters. However, as time has continued on its constant path that surprise soon turned into "of course, I should have known....". I think we all have our different theories on the (non)action taken by the police. I'll reserve my opinion for a song maybe one day.

What sticks out the most in my head from that night in Tottenham wasn't actually the burning eyes of the rioters, but instead a burning police van. I stood there staring at this burning police van, and as I looked into the flames my reality shifted. Growing up in London in fear of the police as a yout'man I never thought I would be standing next to a burning police van. Fire does a crazy thing to the spirit, so I guess part of me understands why nuff man took to the streets over the next few days, after seeing the streets ablaze. My good friend was down Pembury estate the next day and his experience was similar in that where he was there was no looting, just people there ready fi war with the feds. Street-soldiers. No interest in tiefing out likkle trainers and TV.... shame on us. There were soldiers out there ready to bun fire on babylon, and let their voices be heard in the same language that is used against them: violence, the language of oppression used all over the world... meanwhile all some people wanna do is take some bullshit material things. Now what voice do these yout' have? Do they not need to be heard?

As long as there is oppression abroad and in your own back yard the streets will be hot, as long as the police keep killing people and getting away with it the streets will be hot, as long as you keep stopping and searching with prejudice the streets will be hot, as long as you get richer while the poor man stay suffering the streets will be hot, as long as you stay the same as you are the streets will be hot!

As for now I am still listening, refusing to cast judgement, meditating and trying to get a grip on what is to come. I wrote a song called "change" a few weeks before the riots, so it is about time I put something out for these hot streets and those observing from their houses. Look out for it over the next coming month.

Peace and Love

Vibes and pressure

N