Bless me now with your fierce tears XII

Wed, 2021-02-03 19:05

kropotkin1951

Our province’s labour movement joins British Columbians everywhere mourning the death of Charan Gill. We will always remember his courage, warmth and compassion, along with his lifelong commitment to justice.

Co-founding the Canadian Farmworkers Union took extraordinary courage, vision and an unshakeable belief in the power of people working together for a greater good. He, Raj Chouhan and the farmworkers they organized stood their ground against bitter opposition from wealthy, powerful forces. They prevailed, dramatically improving the laws and working conditions governing farm work in our province.

That same bravery allowed Charan to stand up to neo-Nazis and the KKK, stemming their growth here with the creation of the British Columbia Organization to Fight Racism. And his faith in collective action led him to found what has become the Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society, an invaluable lifeline for the South Asian community, new immigrants, seniors, farmworkers, women and at-risk youth to this day.

We feel Charan’s absence especially keenly with the approach of the annual Golden Tree memorial ceremony next month. He was instrumental in winning stronger safety rules in the aftermath of the terrible accident that claimed the lives of three farmworkers, and he has played a prominent role in every one of these memorials. That he won’t attend this one simply feels impossible.

Countless thousands of British Columbians are living better, happier lives today because of Charan Gill. Nobody has done more to embody the value of solidarity. He changed our province for the better, and we will always be grateful. Now Charan will be with us all in spirit.

To Charan’s family, our deepest condolences on your loss. We grieve with you, and we offer our profound appreciation for sharing him with us all for these many years.

https://bcfed.ca/news/releases/charan-gill-leaves-legacy-courage-justice...

Wed, 2021-02-03 19:12

#153

kropotkin1951

https://www.straight.com/news/gurpreet-singh-charanpal-gills-death-in-th...

Wed, 2021-02-03 19:23

#154

NorthReport

Thanks for posting this krop.

Condolences to Charan's family, Raj Chouhan and members of the Canadian Farmworkers Union.

Thu, 2021-02-04 16:33

#155

kropotkin1951

Another sad passing from COVID.

“I had seen artists include politics in their show before,” Anti-Flag frontman Justin Sane said upon its release, “but Anne Feeney was the first artist I encountered whose set was unapologetically and ferociously political. That set had a major impact on me as an artist. I remember thinking to myself, ‘This is the kind of musician I want to be. This woman is punk as hell!’ And she still is!”

Rusted Root’s Liz Berlin, who covered Feeney’s “Have You Been to Jail for Justice?” in her Social Justice Disco project with Phat Man Dee, noted last week that Feeney, her musical mentor, “introduced me to the world of folk music and activism.”

“First time I saw her I was 17 at a hospital workers strike in Canonsburg,” Man Dee said. “She was [expletive] fierce, with amp on back and guitar in her arms, her hair bouncing out of her sun visor like a shampoo commercial as the cops were throwing protestors into school busses. I wanted to be just like her.”

https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/2021/02/03/Anne-Feeney-obituary-folk-sin...

Thu, 2021-02-04 16:38

#156

kropotkin1951

Have you been to jail for justice?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGUCUtCCIhU

Fri, 2021-02-05 13:57

#157

Webgear

97-year-old veteran Wolf Solkin has died at Montreal's Ste-Anne's veteran's hospital (msn.com)

Solkin was the local voice for veterans who felt that they were not being given adequate care. He was the driving force behind a class action lawsuit against the government for the handling of veteran care in Quebec and had been recently outspoken about COVID-19 and the elderly.

Additional information:

‘I won’t take it.’ Wolf Solkin, a 96-year-old WWII veteran, is suing two governments. And he’s not one to retreat | The Star

Fri, 2021-02-05 15:08

#158

cco

Alan Pickersgill, long-time socialist activist from Guelph.

Fri, 2021-02-05 20:26

#159

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

I am friends with Alan's brother Edward on Facebook. Alan's last blog posting is heartbreaking. He endured a second round of chemo with next to nothing in terms of keeping him around longer :-(

https://www.alanpickersgill.ca/liver-cancer/

Wed, 2021-02-24 13:19

#160

Ken Burch

This is huge...

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, whose City Lights Bookstore in North Beach, San Francisco, birthed and sustained a massive literary and cultural era, has died at 101:

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, literary citadel of San Francisco, dies at 101 (sfgate.com)

Sun, 2021-02-28 00:18

#161

Bacchus

I always like his bookstore. Always a definite visit when I'm there

Fri, 2021-03-26 21:49

#162

Ken Burch

Beverly Cleary, who was one of the first children's book authors to write books featuring realistic child characters who lived on a real street in a real city- Klickitat Street, in Portland Oregon, and whose books were read every day in class in the grade school I attended in Salem, 45 miles away, age 104: Oregon Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather (oregonlive.com)

Sat, 2021-03-27 19:55

#163

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

Jessica Walters and George Segal - both Hollywood stars who had long careers that extended into sitcom territory in recent decades with "Arrested Development" and "The Goldbergs" respectively.

Sat, 2021-04-10 14:29

#164

kropotkin1951

RIP Wayne Bradley. My wife was very involved with Wayne and Janet and considers them her mentors. We still drink World Community Coffee and support Co-Dev.

CoDevelopment Canada expresses deep sadness at the loss of long-time Vancouver Island Central America solidarity activist Wayne Bradley, who died this Saturday, April 3. For a number of years, Wayne was CoDev’s only board member from outside the Lower Mainland. Some will remember him as the genius behind the Travelling World Community Film Festival, whose Vancouver incarnation CoDev hosted for many years. Others remember Wayne as the driving force behind World Community Coffee, Café Etico’s import partner, and one of two local fair trade coffee initiatives (the other being OGIFA) that led CoDev to establish Café Etico in 1996.

These initiatives are housed in the Courtney-based World Community Development Education Society (WCDES), for many years a partner of CoDev’s in supporting projects in Nicaragua with the community heath organization APS and Coffee farmers on the island of Ometepe.

CoDev's most recent work with Wayne and WCDES involved raising funds for Café Etico and the WCDES’ partner coffee co-ops that had been hit hard by two category 5 hurricanes last November. Wayne and his partner Janet Fairbanks quickly responded to the appeal, sharing it with WCDES members. Most of the funds raised for the two co-ops came from the Comox Valley, thanks to their efforts.

We extend our condolences to Janet, WCDES and everyone touched by Wayne's commitment to social justice. Wayne was a pillar of international solidarity in the Comox Valley and throughout much of the island. He will be deeply missed.

“Hay hombres que luchan un día y son buenos. Hay otros que luchan un año y son mejores. Hay quienes luchan muchos años, y son muy buenos. Pero los hay que luchan toda la vida: esos son los imprescindibles.” - Bertolt Brecht

Sat, 2021-04-10 15:06

#165

josh

Ramsey Clark

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/10/us/politics/ramsey-clark-dead.html

Sat, 2021-04-10 20:28

#166

NDPP

Ramsey Clark on Gustafsen Lake crisis: Excerpt from his letter to BC NDP AG/Human Rights Minister, Ujjal Dosanjh cc'd to BC Chief Justice Allen McEachern

"...You have created the appearance of an outrageous abuse of judicial power to deprive persons accused of crimes of their counsel...Have you no sense of judicial ethics or common decency? You give the appearance of a hateful tyrant determined to humiliate Indians and destroy the professional and personal reputation and livelihood of their lawyer. Do you expect Indian peoples to believe they can receive justice in your courts?"

http://sisis.nativeweb.org/clark/feb1897.html

Ramsey Clark, Rest in Power.

Thu, 2021-09-09 18:20

#167

Douglas Fir Premier

Journalist, author, activist, and former rabble senior editor and columnist, Murray Dobbin, has passed away at 76.

Thu, 2021-09-09 20:28

#168

Ken Burch

Murray taught a huge number of things to a huge number of people. Keep him alive in the struggle.

Thu, 2021-09-09 20:31

#169

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

Oh, very sad news. Damn, 76 years old seems too young in this day and age.

Sat, 2021-09-25 21:04

#170

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

A past Babble contributor who went on to blaze a trail on the blogosphere and Twitter has passed away on her own terms. There is no obituary yet but Fern Hill passed away on September 22nd, 2021.

Here is a link to the online Twitter wake that was organized last night to celebrate her life:

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23FernHillWake&src=tren

Sun, 2021-09-26 01:40

#171

Douglas Fir Premier

I'm much less active on Twitter than I used to be, but I remember Fern Hill well. I was sad to learn of her passing. I had no idea she was a fromer babbler.

Thu, 2021-11-11 21:10

#172

NDPP

Lee Maracle, Stolo, Author, Activist: Passes @ 71

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.5198...

Rest in (Red) Power!

Fri, 2021-11-12 20:21

#173

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

John Artis, Convicted With Rubin (Hurricane) Carter, Dies at 75

"He was the “forgotten man” in the triple murder case that was eventually overturned and that exposed flaws [and racism] in the criminal justice system."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/11/nyregion/john-artis-dead.html

Thu, 2021-11-18 17:05

#174

lagatta4

Unfortunately I can't read tweets. They don't recognise my telephone number (because it isn't a cellphone).

Thu, 2021-12-16 19:40

#175

NDPP

rip bell hooks. 69. scholar, author, activist. so many good quotes she left behind. here's one for babble: 'what we do is more important than what we say or what we say we believe in.'

Thu, 2021-12-16 22:41

#176

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

Oh wow, I did not hear about bell hooks. Damn, what a loss and at such a young age.

Fri, 2021-12-17 16:26

#177

Ken Burch

Indeed.

Sun, 2021-12-26 03:33

#178

lagatta4

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has passed away at the age of 90, on Boxing Day in Cape Town. I had the honour of interpreting for him (and Mrs Tutu) at a union congress in Québec City.

They were not only towering figures in the struggle against apartheid (and many other forms of racism, bigotry and oppression), they were lovely people.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/26/archbishop-desmond-tutu-gi...

Sun, 2021-12-26 12:56

#179

epaulo13

..good age for an activist to live to. remains inspiring even in his death.

Sun, 2021-12-26 20:15

#180

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

Certainly an impressive and honourable man. RIP Archbishop Tutu.

I am happy that both Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela lived such long lives and had decades of great work on behalf of humanity under their belts. You are lucky to have met him and known him personally, lagatta.

Fri, 2022-01-07 10:22

#181

josh

Sidney Poitier.

https://twitter.com/OurNewsRev/status/1479461529007316997?s=20

Fri, 2022-01-07 20:47

#182

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

There was a nice albeit short interview with Norman Jewison on "As It Happens" tonight. Jewison and Poitier became good friends after working on the film, "In the Heat of the Night".

Fri, 2022-01-07 23:15

#183

NDPP

"Sydney Poitier was a giant on and off the screen. Here he is with Harry Belafonte in 1966 after bailing John Lewis, Jim Forman, and other SNCC members out of jail. They had been arrested protesting apartheid at the South African consulate in NYC.

https://twitter.com/andrewaydin/status/1479486047008563205

And people are still arrested today protesting apartheid at the Israeli consulate in NYC. Bravo Poitier...

Thu, 2022-01-27 13:59

#184

Ken Burch

This is the most depressing obituary of all...the man who voiced Charlie Brown in the Peanuts animated specials when I was a kid chose to die. Given how bleak Charlie was as a character, this feels kind of disturbingly inevitable:

Peter Robbins, Voice of Charlie Brown, Dead at 65 from Suicide (tmz.com)

What made Peanuts compellng as a comic strip and later as animation, was that it was the first representation of childhood that contained emotional truth- it showed how freaking REAL being a child could be. Charlie Brown was where a lot more kids were emotionally & psychologically.

It is horrifying that the voice of Charlie Brown may never really have been free of Charlie's actual pain.

If that strip meant anything to you, please practice self and community care. We are all needed and we all deserve whatever help and support we can get and we can give.

Thu, 2022-01-27 21:03

#185

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

Oh that is so sad and distressing. His voice of the Charlie Brown character did have resonance I believe for many children who knew they were not happy but learned how to just put up with shit. RIP Peter Robbins.

Mon, 2022-01-31 11:25

#186

epaulo13

..tragic. so young. so sad.

Former Miss USA and Black Lives Matter Advocate Cheslie Kryst Dies by Suicide

Here in New York, former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst died Sunday morning after jumping from a building in Manhattan. She won the pageant in 2019. Kryst was an attorney and an advocate for Black Lives Matter. She worked pro bono with prisoners, fighting for criminal justice reform. In a statement, her family said, “Her great light was one that inspired others around the world with her beauty and strength. She cared, she loved, she laughed and she shined.” Cheslie Kryst was 30 years old.

Mon, 2022-01-31 18:27

(Reply to #186) #187

Ken Burch

epaulo13 wrote:

..tragic. so young. so sad.

Former Miss USA and Black Lives Matter Advocate Cheslie Kryst Dies by Suicide

Here in New York, former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst died Sunday morning after jumping from a building in Manhattan. She won the pageant in 2019. Kryst was an attorney and an advocate for Black Lives Matter. She worked pro bono with prisoners, fighting for criminal justice reform. In a statement, her family said, “Her great light was one that inspired others around the world with her beauty and strength. She cared, she loved, she laughed and she shined.” Cheslie Kryst was 30 years old.

It is horrific that she reached the stage of not wishing to live.

It's as if somehow she could not see her own worth anymore.

May she at least rest in power!

Mon, 2022-01-31 21:39

#188

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

Very tragic end of life for Cheslie Kryst and so very young.

Fri, 2022-04-22 09:00

#189

josh

Guy Lafleur

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/guy-lafleur-obituary-1.5766441

Fri, 2022-04-22 13:24

#190

JKR

One week after Mike Bossy. Two of the greatest scorers in NHL history.

Sun, 2022-05-29 18:14

#191

Ken Burch

The man who gave The Band its big break, who was a patron for a generation of Canadian rockers, has finally gone:

Rocker Ronnie Hawkins, dies at 87, patron of Canadian rock (msn.com)

Sun, 2022-05-29 21:12

#192

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

Sad news but one of the best Canadian ambassadors we ever saw. Hawkins was fiercely proud of settling in Canada when universal healthcare became a thing and embracing Canadian musical talent that surrounded him. RIP Ronnie.

Tue, 2022-05-31 14:20

#193

epaulo13

..in my early growing left years i was a big fan of james's non vanguard politics. i remain so today.

C.L.R. James died on this day in 1989. Long before the ghetto rebellions or the upsurge that followed the murder of George Floyd, he made this point.

"Let us not forget that in the Negro people, there sleep are now awakening passions of a violence exceeding, perhaps, as far as these things can be compared, anything among the tremendous forces that capitalism has created. Anyone who knows them..must recognize..the hatred of bourgeois society and the readiness to destroy it when the opportunity should present itself rests among them to a degree greater than in any other section of the population in the United States."

Tue, 2022-05-31 14:36

#194

epaulo13

As residential streets up and down the UK get ready to mark the Jubilee weekend with traditional street parties, the Grenfell Community has once more taken to the streets to protest the lack of justice. 72 place cards, each with the name of one of the victims, were laid out.

Mon, 2022-08-08 20:50

#195

Ken Burch

Olivia Newton-John, dead at 73 after a long battle with breast cancer: Olivia Newton-John: Singer, actor and a champion for cancer awareness who never stopping celebrating life (yahoo.com)

Mon, 2022-08-08 23:43

#196

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

30 years since Olivia Newton John's initial diagnosis of early stage breast cancer. She was very open and public about it at a time when breast cancer was treated with as much revultion and fear as AIDS. She was instrumental in making the disease less toxic and opened up dialogue about what it was like to get the diagnosis and live with the disease.

It seems Olivia had a good 20 years of living cancer free until a return with mestastisis in her shoulder followed by a more devastating diagnosis in 2017 where it seems to have spread furhter through her bones. Still she made the most of it and lived her way (using cannabis over morphine for the most part) for another 5 years. Her attitude and commitment to discussing breast cancer was an exemplary gift for many of us.

Sun, 2022-09-04 14:18

#197

Ken Burch

It was just announced that Archie Roach, the Indigenous Australian blues singer and justice champion, died, aged 66, on July 30th-he had fought significant health issues since at least 2010. Here is the official video of his best known song, a lament for the mass abduction of Indigenous children in Australia(comparable to "The Big Scoop" in Canada and the residential schools atrocities in the US AND Canada).

Archie Roach - Took The Children Away (Official Music Video) - YouTube

Sun, 2022-09-04 16:25

#198

epaulo13

..great song. retched circumstances that inspired it. i hadn't heard of archie roach before. and i'm glad to have learned of him. condolences!

..txs ken.

Mon, 2022-09-05 20:14

#199

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

Wow, I had never known of Archie Roach but I just heard his perform that song on a live recording from his first ever tour outside of Australia on the CBC Radio music program, "Reclaimed". So very sorry to hear about his passing and at such a young age.