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Black Tuesday

A year ago today the women of Poland took to the streets armed with black umbrellas, and a sense of outrage, to protest the government’s plans to ban abortion and criminalise miscarriage.  Due to the sheer number of protestors the government backed down and ultimately threw out a bill which would have essentially granted women the status of cattle.

365 days later the debate has resurfaced as yet again a bunch of bigoted bastards, supported by the Catholic Church, and the de facto leader of the government Jaroslaw Kaczynski, have been circulating petitions in yet another effort to take away a woman’s right to decide what happens to their own body.  It is incredibly saddening to see a government and a religious institution show such a blatant disregard for women in the 21st century.

Today all across Poland and beyond, women will again take to the streets armed with black umbrellas to remind the government that they have minds of their own and that they are not afraid to use them.  This fight is not even a conversation we should be having in 2017.

When a government is able to force their will on its people, it ceases to be a democratic institution and becomes a dictatorship.  The very fact that this issue has resurfaced in 12 months only demonstrates the government’s nefarious intentions.  This is not an issue that the PiS led government of Poland is going to drop, it is not going to go away.  If by any chance the Ratujemy Kobieta(Save the women) driven protests manage to succeed in their efforts today this issue will keep coming back as long as this party remains in power.  There can be no victory, and no rest, until these Neanderthal, bigoted, fundamentalist arseholes are driven out of public office once and for all.

For Polish Speakers – you can sign the Ratujemy Kobieta Petition here

A year ago I published a novelette dedicated to the protestors in Poland entitled PiSlamistan.  You can get it in English here

You can get PiSlamistan po polsku tutaj

 

An Important Announcement 

I’ve decided to retire from sadness. I’ve dedicated much of my life to it and I think it’s right that I leave whilst I’m at the top level. I have been both incredibly depressed and incredibly depressing for 36 years of my life. It’s time to start a new chapter of my life. I would like to thank my coaches; rock,blues and melancholy. I could never have been a champion of depression without you. It’s only right that as I pass the torch to the next generation that I say that sincerely I hope that they have as awful a time as I did.

An SOS For Poland

Have you ever watched a country be transformed into a dictatorship?  It is an obscure notion, something that we see mentioned on the news, in terrible action films or on late night documentaries.  It is not something that happens to us.  It was not something that happened to me.  Until now.

Poland needs our help.  It is a country in great distress.  Since coming to power the Polish Government has manufactured a pseudo-soviet state.  They have turned the national television station into a propaganda channel worthy of Borat.  They have neutered the Constitutional Court.  Now they are about to pass into law an act that will fire all of the Supreme Court judges and subjugate them to political will.  It is an action that will open the door to emergency laws, show trials, and the legal system becoming a tool in a war against modernity.  It is clearer than ever that the plan of the man behind the party in power is to build the first Catholic Fundamentalist State in the heart of Europe.

If this law is signed in Poland, there will be no institution left that will be able to challenge the legality of the government’s actions.  The government would have a free hand to do whatever they wanted, outside of the rule of law.  Poland would become a democratically elected dictatorship in which the government would be free to change electoral law to ensure Poland becomes a one party state.  Free to imprison journalists and members of the opposition on any charges.  Free to prevent social manifestations and demonstrations.  Freedom would be replaced by the politics of fear and hate and democracy will be lost, possibly for our lifetimes.

So what can we do?  Make noise.  Add your voice.  There are protests taking place all across Europe to show solidarity with the nation that invented solidarity.  Join them.  It is essentially going for a walk and a swear with people that need to swear quite a lot.  Write to your MP’s.  To Ambassadors.  Governments.  The EU.  Anybody that could possibly help.  And most of all if you work with a Pole, or live with a Pole, are friends with a Pole, and especially if you are in love with a Pole, listen to them, hug them, and march side by side with them and make as much fucking noise as you can!!!

For a list of protests happening across Europe today click here 

To learn about one of the main coordinators of the protests click here

For a collection of articles in English from publications all over the world click here

 

The Non-stop Dancer is available

Ladies and Gentlemen, and all of you that are bored as you shuttle between work and polling stations, I have some good news, I can offer you something to read.

To commemorate the wonderful day in which the nation of Great Britain gets to choose between a turd sandwich, a turd roll, a turd panini and a turd baguette, I have decided to publish a #Brexit themed short story entitled ‘The Non-stop Dancer’.

For those of you that do eBooks you can get it here from #Smashwords

For those of that think you are man enough to read it in one go(it takes around 26 minutes) you can read it here on #Medium

And for those of that don’t eBook and would like to read it in digestible chunks, you can read it here on #Wattpad

All that’s left for me to say is go forth and read it.  If you like it, share it.  And if you love it, or hate it, you let me know what you think by leaving a review right here on #Goodreads

Enjoy

 

The Non-Stop Dancer Preview

As promised, page 1 of ‘The Non-Stop Dancer’

In the beginning…

The light fantastic swayed before him, pulling him closer, like a semi-drunk date at a high school dance. He raised his arms to the ceiling and closed his eyes. The rhythm held him, and shook him to the core, a tsunami of life, a margarita of triumph, riding a wave of consciousness to the steady shores of understanding.

The colours danced before his very eyes, twisting and spinning, and turning and groaning, like a kaleidoscopic yogi dead set on impressing a much younger student. His legs, legs that resembled chicken drumsticks upon closer inspection, moved on their own, an entity separate from the motors that drove him. The arms that flailed before him, drew celestial shapes in front of him.

The dancer was no longer mortal, no long human, he had transposed, he had reached a new level, he was electric. He plucked items from the imagination of the carbon dioxide that surrounded him as his heart pumped a heady rhythm. There were big fish, there were little fish, there were cardboard boxes. It was the sermon on the mount, and he was Jesus, he was hope, the light and our salvation.

And the Lord said ‘let there be light’ and there was.

To celebrate the forthcoming election I will publish ‘The Non-Stop Dancer’ on June 8th.  Check back here on the day to find out how to get your copy.