Enola Gay (O.m.d.1980), a pacifist song. August 1945, atomic bombing of Japan.

Enola gay, you should have stayed at home yesterday Aha words can't describe the feeling and the way you lied These games you play, they're gonna end it more than tears someday Aha Enola Gay, it shouldn't ever have to end this way It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been We got your message on the radio, conditions normal and you're coming home Enola Gay, is mother proud of little boy today Aha this kiss you give, it's never ever gonna fade away Enola Gay, it shouldn't ever have to end this way Aha Enola Gay, it shouldn't fade in our dreams away It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been We got your message on the radio, conditions normal and you're coming home Enola Gay, is mother proud of little boy today Aha this kiss you give, it's never ever gonna fade away 

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1980)

The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in 1945. The two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.

Following a firebombing campaign that destroyed many Japanese cities, the Allies prepared for a costly invasion of Japan. The war in Europe ended when Nazi Germany signed its instrument of surrender on 8 May, but the Pacific War continued. Together with the United Kingdom and the Republic of China, the United States called for a surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945, threatening Japan with "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese governmentignored this ultimatum. American airmen dropped Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, followed by Fat Manover Nagasaki on 9 August.

Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, with roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day.

 The Hiroshima prefecture health department estimated that, of the people who died on the day of the explosion, 60% died from flash or flame burns, 30% from falling debris and 10% from other causes. During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, compounded by illness. In a US estimate of the total immediate and short term cause of death, 15–20% died from radiation sickness, 20–30% from burns, and 50–60% from other injuries, compounded by illness. In both cities, most of the dead were civilians, although Hiroshima had a sizeable garrison.

The weeping Woman (LLORONA), Homage to Chavela Vargas (1919-2012)

The Weeping Woman

Frida-Chavela

(an English version)

 

They call me black-hearted, Llorona,

black-hearted, and one who beguiles.

*And like jalapeños burn you, Llorona, 

you'll pay if you yield to my wiles.

(*literally: "I am like the green chile, Llorona,

                 Burning hot yet delectable.")

 

They think I don't feel the pain, Llorona, 

because they can't see me cry.

Yet even the dead are tearless, Llorona,

and their sorrow is greater than mine.

 

O pity me, Llorona, Llorona,

and down to the river let's go.

Hold me closely inside your shawl, Llorona,

for I think I shall die in the cold.

 

If the heavens above were mine, Llorona,

for you I’d pull all the stars down.

I’d place the moon there at your feet, Llorona, 

and take the sun’s rays for your crown.

To a Savior who bore the world's pain, Llorona,

I confided my horrible grief.

But my sorrowful suffering was such, Llorona,

that it made even Jesus weep.

.

The Weeping Woman

(La Llorona)

a hispanic legend by Joe Hayes

This is a story that the old ones have been telling to children for hundreds of years. It is a sad tale, but it lives strong in the memories of the people, and there are many who swear that it is true.

Long years ago in a humble little village there lived a fine looking girl named Maria Some say she was the most beautiful girl in the world! And because she was so beautiful, Maria thought she was better than everyone else.

As Maria grew older, her beauty increased And her pride in her beauty grew too When she was a young woman, she would not even look at the young men from her village. They weren't good enough for her! "When I marry," Maria would say, "I will marry the most handsome man in the world."

And then one day, into Maria's village rode a man who seemed to be just the one she had been talking about. He was a dashing young ranchero, the son of a wealthy rancher from the southern plains. He could ride like a Comanche! In fact, if he owned a horse, and it grew tame, he would give it away and go rope a wild horse from the plains. He thought it wasn't manly to ride a horse if it wasn't half wild.

He was handsome! And he could play the guitar and sing beautifully. Maria made up her mind-that was, the man for her! She knew just the tricks to win his attention.

If the ranchero spoke when they met on the pathway, she would turn her head away. When he came to her house in the evening to play his guitar and serenade her, she wouldn't even come to the window. She refused all his costly gifts. The young man fell for her tricks. "That haughty girl, Maria, Maria! " he said to himself. "I know I can win her heart. I swear I'll marry that girl."

And so everything turned out as Maria planned. Before long, she and the ranchero became engaged and soon they were married. At first, things were fine. They had two children and they seemed to be a happy family together. But after a few years, the ranchero went back to the wild life of the prairies. He would leave town and be gone for months at a time. And when he returned home, it was only to visit his children. He seemed to care nothing for the beautiful Maria. He even talked of setting Maria aside and marrying a woman of his own wealthy class.

As proud as Maria was, of course she became very angry with the ranchero. She also began to feel anger toward her children, because he paid attention to them, but just ignored her.

One evening, as Maria was strolling with her two children on the shady pathway near the river, the ranchero came by in a carriage. An elegant lady sat on the seat beside him. He stopped and spoke to his children, but he didn't even look at Maria. He whipped the horses on up the street.

When she saw that, a terrible rage filled Maria, and it all turned against her children. And although it is sad to tell, the story says that in her anger Maria seized her two children and threw them into the river! But as they disappeared down the stream, she realized what she had done! She ran down the bank of the river, reaching out her arms to them. But they were long gone.

The next morning, a traveler brought word to the villagers that a beautiful woman lay dead on the bank of the river. That is where they found Maria, and they laid her to rest where she had fallen.

But the first night Maria was in the grave, the villagers heard the sound of crying down by the river. It was not the wind, it was La Llorona crying. "Where are my children?" And they saw a woman walking up and down the bank of the river, dressed in a long white robe, the way they had dressed Maria for burial. On many a dark night they saw her walk the river bank and cry for her children. And so they no longer spoke of her as Maria. They called her La Llorona, the weeping woman. And by that name she is known to this day. Children are warned not to go out in the dark, for, La Llorona might snatch them and never return them.

13 Roses (executed on August 5, 1939)

It tells the story of 13 young women who were sentenced to death by a military court for a crime they had not committed: an attack on a military official during the first years of Franco's dictatorship in which three people died. The women were already in jail when the assault took place.

Arrested a month after the end of the Spanish Civil War, the women were sympathizers of the socialist Spanish Republic which was overthrown by the fascist Nationalist forces. They suffered harsh interrogations and were jailed at Las Ventas in Madrid. The women, known as the 13 roses were executed at dawn on August 5, 1939.

There's a film: Las 13 rosas (2007)

Plot: True story of thirteen totally normal young women that suffered harsh questioning and were put in prison under made up charges of helping the rebellion against Franco back in the 1940's. Despite of their innocence, the thirteen were soon executed without even a trace of evidence of any wrong doing.

And the couple of documentaries you can watch here. They were broadcast on Spanish TV.

The first documentary (in nine parts) is called From Oblivion to Memory; the second one is a quote from one of the women's last letters: not my name be cut off from history (que mi nombre no se borre de la historia)

EL PAÍS 2005
EL PAÍS 2009

Steve Biko's death, 1977 (Peter Gabriel's song, 1986)

Song about Steve Biko, a noted black South African anti-apartheid activist. Biko had been arrested by the South African police in late August 1977. After being held in custody for several days, he was interrogated in room 619 of the Walmer Street prison in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape. Following the interrogation, during which he sustained serious head injuries, Biko was transferred to a prison in Pretoria, where he died shortly afterwards, on 12 September 1977. 

Gabriel often plays the song at the end of concerts, encouraging the audience to join in the singing, and eventually leaving only the drummer on stage. The album version of the song is bookended by a recording of the South African song "Senzeni Na?" as sung at Biko's funeral. It was first played on South African TV and radio stations after apartheid was abolished in 1990.

September '77Port Elizabeth weather fineIt was business as usualIn police room 619Oh Biko, Biko, because BikoOh Biko, Biko, because BikoYihla Moja, Yihla Moja-The man is dead

When I try to sleep at nightI can only dream in redThe outside world is black and whiteWith only one colour deadOh Biko, Biko, because BikoOh Biko, Biko, because BikoYihla Moja, Yihla Moja-The man is dead
You can blow out a candleBut you can't blow out a fireOnce the flames begin to catchThe wind will blow it higherOh Biko, Biko, because BikoYihla Moja, Yihla Moja-The man is dead

And the eyes of the world arewatching nowwatching now

Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, musician, songwriter and activist who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock band GenesisInspired by the social activism he encountered in his work with Amnesty, in 1992 Gabriel co-founded WITNESS, a non-profit group that equips, trains and supports locally-based organizations worldwide to use video and the internet in human rights documentation and advocacy.

Youssou N'Dour (French pronunciation: ​[jusu nˈduʁ]; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, percussionist, songwriter, composer, occasional actor, businessman and a politician. 
In Senegal, N'Dour became a powerful cultural icon, actively involved in social issues. In 1985, he organized a concert for the release of Nelson Mandela. He was a featured performer in the 1988 worldwide Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour collaborating with Lou Reed on a version of the Peter Gabriel song Biko which was produced byRichard James Burgess and featured on the Amnesty International benefit album The Secret Policeman's Third Ball. He worked with the United Nations and UNICEF, and he started Project Joko to open internet cafés in Africa and to connect Senegalese communities around the world.

Amy Winehouse two year's absence...

Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983-23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter known for her deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul, jazz, ska and reggae.

BACK TO BLACK

"Back To Black"

He left no time to regret

Kept his dick wet

With his same old safe bet

Me and my head high

And my tears dry

Get on without my guy

You went back to what you knew

So far removed from all that we went through

And I tread a troubled track

My odds are stacked

I'll go back to black

We only said goodbye with words

I died a hundred times

You go back to her

And I go back to.....

I go back to us

I love you much

It's not enough

You love blow and I love puff

And life is like a pipe

And I'm a tiny penny rolling up the walls inside

We only said goodbye with words

I died a hundred times

You go back to her

And I go back to

We only said goodbye with words

I died a hundred times

You go back to her

And I go back to

Black, black, black, black, black, black, black,

I go back to

I go back to

We only said good-bye with words

I died a hundred times

You go back to her

And I go back to

We only said good-bye with words

I died a hundred times

You go back to her

And I go back to black

Homage to Nelson Mandela...

... on his 95 birthday!!!!

(2008)

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation:   [xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]; born 18 July 1918) is a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative, multiracial election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997.
Mandela served 27 years in prison, first on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. 

Don't you know 
They're talkin' bout a revolution 
It sounds like a whisper 
Don't you know 
They're talkin' about a revolution 
It sounds like a whisper 
While they're standing in the welfare lines 

Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation 
Wasting time in the unemployment lines 
Sitting around waiting for a promotion 

Poor people gonna rise up 

And get their share 

Poor people gonna rise up 

And take what's theirs 

Don't you know 
You better run, run, run
Oh I said you better 
Run, run, run

Finally the tables are starting to turn 
Talkin' bout a revolution


Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1964. She was raised by her mother, who recognized Tracy's love of music and, despite not having much money, bought her a ukulele when she was just three.

MICHAEL JACKSON's MUSIC will live forever!

MICHAEL JACKSON was born on 
August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana. He was the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a three-room house in Gary, an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walker "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, an Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jerrmaine, Marlon, and Randy.



On June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson died while in his bed at his rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hillsdistrict of Los Angeles. 
Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief.

I WANT YOU BACK
When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around
Those pretty faces always make you stand out in a crowd
But someone picked you from the bunch, one glance is all it took
Now it's much too late for me to take a second look

Oh baby, give me one more chance
(To show you that I love you)
Won't you please let me back in your heart
Oh darlin', I was blind to let you go
(Let you go, baby)
But now since I've seen you it is on
(I want you back)
Oh I do now
(I want you back)
Ooh ooh baby
(I want you back)
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
(I want you back)
Na na na na

Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night
Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right
Every street you walk on, I leave tear stains on the ground
Following the girl I didn't even want around

Let me tell ya now
Oh baby, all I need is one more chance
(To show you that I love you)
Won't you please let me back in your heart
Oh darlin', I was blind to let you go
(Let you go, baby)
But now since I've seen you it is on

All I want
All I need
All I want!
All I need!

Oh, just one more chance
To show you that I love you
Baby baby baby baby baby baby!
(I want you back)
Forget what happened then
(I want you back)
And let me live again!

Oh baby, I was blind to let you go
But now since I've seen you it is on
(I want you back)
Spare me of this cost
(I want you back)
Give me back what I lost!

Oh baby, I need one more chance, hah
I'd show you that I love you
Baby, oh! Baby, oh! Baby, oh!
I want you back!
I want you back!

Rosa Parks 100th anniversary!

Civil Rights Pioneer

Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her refusal to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955 spurred a city-wide boycott. The city of Montgomery had no choice but to lift the law requiring segregation on public buses. Rosa Parks received many accolades during her lifetime, including the NAACP's highest award.

"At the time I was arrested, I had no idea it would turn into this. It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in."

– Rosa Parks

Proud to be black!

WOMEN

International Women's Day

International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.
International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.
The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies. Following is a brief chronology of the most important events:
1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913.
1910
The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.
1911
As a result of the decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year, International Women's Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.
Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances of International Women's Day.
1913-1914
As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters.
1917
With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and peace". Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway. The rest is history: Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.
Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women's rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.

The Role of the United Nations

Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the Organization has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.
Over the years, United Nations action for the advancement of women has taken four clear directions: promotion of legal measures; mobilization of public opinion and international action; training and research, including the compilation of gender desegregated statistics; and direct assistance to disadvantaged groups. Today a central organizing principle of the work of the United Nations is that no enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world's women.