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 Take
Action - You Can Help Rigoberta
Menchu--
 Nobel
Peace Prize Winner Laureate
Rigoberta Menchu Tum and
her relative,
Francisco Menchu, who works
for the human rights group
the Rigoberta Menchu Tum
Foundation (FRMT) in Guatemala,
have been intimidated and
attacked. Amnesty International
is concerned for all staff
at the Foundation in the
capital, Guatemala City.
The FRMT, which works for the protection of human rights and
the rights of indigenous people, was established by Rigoberta
Menchu Tum after she won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1992. The
FRMT has been working since December 1999 to prosecute a number
of former Guatemalan officials for genocide and other crimes
against humanity. As a result of its human rights work, the FRMT
has constantly experienced serious
persecution and harassment.
Please urge Guatemalan officials to protect indigenous rights
defender Rigoberta Menchu Tum and her staff. To take action,
CLICK
HERE.
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Afghani Singer
Returns Home--
 Farhad
Darya, a well-known Afghani singer returned
home to Kabul on 10th August 2003 after 13
years of exile. Darya who is very popular
amongst the youth has given numerous concerts
and produced many albums whilst in the West.
He is much appreciated for his development
of traditional Afghani music into a new musical
space.
Read
more about Darya.
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 Turkey
- Ferhat Tunc Arrested!
Singer and human rights activist Ferhat Tunc was arrested and
put into Mugla Prison. He was charged of making KADEK's propaganda
in a speech at the 2. Dogubeyazit Cultural Festival. Read
About Ferhat
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Download
RealPlayer
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Steve
Hobson was born in 1952 in Leicester, England.
He has worked as a theatre director and teacher,
and has had his poetry published in numerous magazines
and anthologies. His book of early poems, “Targets”,
was published by Smith Doorstop Press in 1988.
He has multiple sclerosis and is registered blind,
but continues to write, including writing the libretto
for David Golightly’s “St Petersburg
Mass”, which received its world premiere
in St Petersburg in 1993. He produces and edits
radio programmes.
The interview with the composer,
David Golightly, was carried out in early 2003,
and edited into
a radio programme, called “More Than We
Are”. It was broadcast in July 2003 by
Creative FM radio. I have enjoyed David’s
music since I first met him in 1990, and we have
collaborated on a number of projects, notably “The
St Petersburg Mass” and “Songs of
the Clifftop”.
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The Divine
Aesthetic.
The
right to be and in the being touch the source
of the universe" This quote from my
fantasy novel "Waits a Dragon" best sums
up how I feel about the creative process and its
place in our chaotic self indulgent world. Lets
face it fellow artists, writers, poets, musicians,
we live in a society where the elements of materialistic
reality, attempt to devour any sense of spiritual
self. The very intangible factors that are the
building blocks of our creative endeavour are so
foreign, to the social manipulators and politicians
of our world, as to be almost on a different planet.
How else can you explain the lack of sensitivity
required to even exist in their world.
What is
the limit to the degenerative level of social
values and perception? when a politician¹s wife sings
"When I am Sixty four" two days after the apparent
suicide of a individual subject to inhuman political
pressure. A enviroment that has at its core the
word "spin". If I am to understand the
meaning of the word, and please correct me if I
am wrong. "To put a different prospective
on the truth" I always understood that truth
is truth and a lie a lie no matter what the clothes
to cover. This "spin" has now been integrated
into a acceptable part of our social perception.
We expect spin to be used in most elements of political
communication indeed there seems to be a vast army
of minions, intellectual lackeys whose sole justification
for existence is to protect their masters from
any social or public reprimand should these great
and good leaders, Heaven forbid, ever make a mistake.
Where are the boundaries?
where are the individuals, the leaders, that
say I will not be party to that
deceit, I will not betray the innocent or lie
and cheat, steal an others work and justify
my action
with the words "for the greater good".
Artists have know the name of the perpetrator
of that phrase for generations, Machiavelli,
and have
suffered bigotry, abuse, and prejudice from
those that follow his philosophy for generations.
Where
is the hope? The hope is with us, fellow artists,
the dreamers, the seekers the ones who believe
only the best of humanity. The scientists,
doctors, nurses, police, philosophers, teachers,
and yes
sometimes even the politicians all have their
place. They are the fuel for the creative inspiration,"The
Divine Aesthetic" This vast melting pot of
humanity, with all their giving, are the building
blocks for our visions. Yes, creators travel
the
pathways of the unreal world of inspiration,
dreams from a higher plain. A vast unchartered
landscape
of creative endeavour, where the only protection
from doubt is humility. The reward? nothing!
except, by the journey,maybe just maybe touch "the
God in all", and in the touching know "The
Divine Aesthetic"
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We
made this song in Finland during the
night when the war started, hoping that
in the world there would never be a need
for a song like this. But the moment
when we finished recording, the war started.