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Christ is a communist and God is a miner: 'The Sair Road' by William Hershaw
Published in Poetry
Jim Aitken reviews The Sair Road, by Willie Hershaw. The header image and all others in this review are by Les McConnell, the illustrator
Far from creating any 'gude and godlie' kingdom in Scotland as a result of the Reformation there in 1560, by the time of Robert Burns (1759-96) Presbyterianism was being openly satirised. Religious hypocrisy was one of Burns' most constant themes in his poetry. This is no more evident than in 'Holy Willie's Prayer' where Willie believes that he has become one of the elect by the simple fact of seeing himself chosen by God to be one of the elect. And while he chastises others like Gavin Hamilton because 'he drinks, an' swears, an' plays at cartes (cards)', Willie exonerates himself for lifting 'a lawless leg' upon Meg and for having had sex with 'Leezie's lass…three times.' He should be excused for the latter offence on the grounds that he was 'fou '(drunk). Such transgressions Willie sees as utterly without any theological or moral implication for himself but the same man would condemn others fervently for similar transgressions.
The Christian virtue of 'judge not lest you be judged' has no reference point in Willie's religious view. The obsession with the sins of others created the dialectic of the self-righteous and the damned. With so much to be frowned upon it is fair to say that Scottish culture suffered from such a censorious atmosphere. Righteousness, after all, meant always being right.
It is therefore understandable that in James Hogg's 'The Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)' that it would be the Devil that made an appearance. In this incredible novel a fanatically self-righteous Robert Wringhim is encouraged to kill his more rounded and sporty brother, George. The figure of Gil-Martin as Devil incarnate utilises the religious fanaticism of Robert to commit fratricide.
The novel is set in the turbulent times of the 17th century when Scotland was waging religious war both at home and abroad during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Hogg has two narratives in this book, one by an Editor and the other by Robert himself. The Editor is a smug man of the Enlightenment who believes that civilisation and progress are both constant and linear. He looks back on the fanaticism of a previous era with horror, viewing the excesses of such times as primitive and barbaric. What makes this novel so modern is our clear understanding today that such excesses are always with us – when we think of the two World Wars of the 20th century, of the Iraq war, the rise of Daesh, the rise of the far right, national populism and the threat of environmental catastrophe in our short century so far.
Hogg's masterpiece raises such important notions of duality and without it we would not have had Stevenson's 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' or 'The Testament of Gideon Mack' by James Robertson.
It was not until 1860 that Christ made his most significant appearance in Scottish culture. It was in a painting by William Dyce (1806-64) of Aberdeen called 'The Man of Sorrows.' Dyce was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and played a part in their early popularity. It was in fact Dyce who introduced Rossetti, Holman Hunt and Millais to John Ruskin and the spirituality in some of Dyce's painting owes much to the Pre-Raphaelites.
Victorian Britain was a brutal place, with imperialism abroad and servitude at home, and the Pre-Raphaelites sought to go back in time to a more romanticised world, often inspired by the poetry of Shakespeare, Keats and Tennyson. While they did create an artistic renewal and expressed a mission of moral reform revealing piety, they also showed the struggle of purity against corruption. Ruskin particularly approved of their detailed treatment of nature. However, their canvases largely featured much earlier historical eras, while the social reality around them was ghastly. In this they were not entirely different to Prince Charles, with his horror of so much of modern architecture, or to John Major and his reverie for an England where you came out from Evensong and headed for a warm beer on the village green, watching cricket.
What made Dyce's painting so memorable – at least for Scots – was that the figure of Christ was sitting on a Scottish Highland hillside. Dyce, of course, would have been intimate with such locations himself and that is probably why he chose such a setting. However, the implication of such a setting was considerable. There is plenty of space for Christ to contemplate in such a wilderness because a few decades earlier the Highlanders had been cleared from the land to make way for sheep. 'The Man of Sorrows' can be seen to be at one with the men and women who were so brutally evicted from their lands. Such an interpretation –possibly unintended by Dyce – would nonetheless be made by many Scots. The sorrows felt by Christ were also the sorrows of those who once lived in this wilderness. Furthermore, the sorrowful Christ of the Highland hillside would clearly have known that the church in Scotland did little to prevent such suffering, by siding instead with the landowners and the gentry.
Though we live in a largely secular era today (though not so secular in the land of Mammon, the USA), the figure of Christ, as expressed in the Gospels, can still inspire. What churches have done – or not done – in his name cannot be attributable to him. He was and remains a radical and a revolutionary figure who sought nothing more than peace, love and sharing based on communal values.
Christ is a communist and God is a miner
Call that rebirth and resurrection if you like. He was on the side of the poor, the victimised, the marginalised and the oppressed. His ministry was itself 'good news for the poor.' It is inconceivable in a world where the poor and oppressed are still with us that he cannot be seen as relevant. George Bernard Shaw, in his Preface – a work far more interesting than the play it introduces – to 'Androcles and the Lion (1916)' called Christ 'a communist.'
His story inspired an array of different people and groups as diverse as the Levellers of the 17th century, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, Keir Hardie, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, along with untold billions over the last two millennia.
Love richt and heeze the ferlous gift o grace!
So for Jesus to turn up in the Fife coalfield of the 20th century seems perfectly in keeping with his historical influence at other times. The versatile William Hershaw, who is not just a poet but also a dramatist, folk musician and Scots language activist, tells us in his introduction to 'The Sair Road (2018)' that 'the Thatcher years 'were 'the most significant period' in his life. At the time of the Miners' Strike of 1984-5 he 'was a young teacher in Fife' working not so much at the chalk face but at the coal face, where many of the students he taught would have been the sons and daughters of miners.
The idea behind 'The Sair Road' must have formed in an earlier poem he wrote called 'God the Miner'. The words of this poem are inscribed on a sculpture by David Annand called 'The Prop' and installed in 2007 in Lochgelly. It was in fact part of the Lochgelly Regeneration Project brought about after the death of a once proud industry. The words from the poem seem entirely apt because, as God creates, so too does the miner. They are indistinguishable:
God is a miner,
For aye is his shift,
Heezan his graith he howks in the lift.
Always working (aye is his shift) God lifts (heezan) his tools (graith) and digs (howks) in the sky (lift). In the second verse we read:
Thrang at his work,
Stars are the aizles he caws in the mirk.
Here we are told that God is constantly busy (thrang) and that the stars are the sparks (aizles) he strikes (caws) in the dark (mirk). These lines not only offer a poetic response to the work of creation but to work generally because labour can – and should – be afforded dignity because it is labour itself that is the source of all that is created.
The Fife coalfield was ravaged during the Thatcher years and neglected during the years of Blair and Brown. With the death of an industry came the death also of the NUM and, saddest of all, the death of that precious experience of community. From 'God the Miner' in 2007 Hershaw must have been howking away inside his poetic imagination to have come up with 'The Sair Road.'
A Christian is a Socialist or nocht
This collection is also written in Scots, which is fitting because the Fife tongue still uses a great many Scots words and miners would certainly have used many of these words. The miners were a special workforce, and no more so than in the Fife coalfield. While the term 'Red Clydeside' is well known, 'Red Fife' could easily have challenged Clydeside for radical politics. In 1935 it was the Red Clydesider William Gallacher who became Communist MP for West Fife until 1950. And though our media loves to peddle the idea that to be a Communist you had to have attended Cambridge University and become a spy, the reality was that Cowdenbeath had the largest Communist Party Branch of anywhere in the UK, and members there were almost entirely miners. The socialist credentials of Fife are second to none.
'The Sair Road' is structured to parallel the Stations of the Cross. Hershaw, however, has adapted them to form what he calls 'The Lochgelly Stations.' There is also an introductory poem before the Stations called 'Apocrypha 1: Airly Doors' and after the Station sequence there is 'Apocrypha 2: Efter Hours' along with three further poems that seek to sum up not only what has gone before but what could come after.
There is, Hershaw tells us again in his Introduction, 'no theological consistency or orthodoxy in 'The Sair Road' and Jesus the Miner 'has little time for organised religion.' In the poem 'The Lord Lous (loves) a Sinner' the following lines confirm this sense of an independent mind:
The Kirk needs the pious
Tae fill up her pews
But the Lord recruits sinners
For guid men are few.
The action flits through the 1920s, when there was a lockout of miners in 1921, and moves on to the General Strike of 1926, when there was another lockout after that strike. The miners' strike of 1984-85 is implied in all the action and invoked cleverly after Jesus the Miner is 'liftit' for preaching his gospel of love:
The neist day he was bound tae staund in coort
Condemned by the Sanhedrin, Daily Mail,
Thatcher and McGregor, the BBC,
Chairged wi riot, unlawful assembly,
The braggarts feart he micht owercoup their world
And like mad dugs settled tae bring him doun.
As he sat in the Gethsemane Plots thinking on his struggle ahead he was told – 'You're liftit Trotsky…Judas turned a scab.' The archetypal name for a rebel – Trotsky – is applied to suggest how dangerous Jesus' words have been to the status quo. And Judas – just as before – is the archetypal name for a traitor.
The names of the Apostles have a Scots twist to them. Jesus calls them his 'feirs' (friends) and they are named as Jamie, Mattie, Si, Wee Jock, Andrae, Tam and Big Pete. They are also his boozing buddies as they often hang out in the local Goth Bar. In no way could Jesus the Miner be set apart from others in this community. His spirituality and conviction may make him seem 'other' but he is very much a part of the mining community in all other respects.
Support the striking miners? Never, naa,/I winnae lift a haund, I'll see it faa.
The Lochgelly Stations mirror well the original story, and are also well applied to the mining community Jesus the Miner finds himself in. One good example of this is replacing Pilate with Ramsay MacDonald. He washes his hands of the whole sorrowful business at the end of the General Strike, just as Pilate did in the New Testament. Hershaw uses a particularly descriptive Scots word to suggest how the Labour leader feels about it all – 'MacDonald girnt.' Girning in Scots means not just moaning but doing so with lathers of self-pity. In his speech MacDonald 'girns' about his lot. He tells Jesus the Miner, 'Socialism, Labour are juist bit words.' Though progress is slow, he says, it will come 'through the ballot box, no blackmail.'
These words could so easily have been spoken by Neil Kinnock when he was leader of the Labour Party during the strike of 1984-5. The South Wales miners dubbed him Ramsay McKinnock for not supporting them. Kinnock, of course, went on to become an unelected EU Commissioner, and he now sits in the unelected House of Lords. The same man complained – as the Tory press of his day told him to – that the miners should have had a ballot, which seems rather ridiculous today as the former son of a miner now sits with what Burns called 'cuifs' (fools) clad in ermine, in the House of Lords.
There is one key idea in 'The Sair Road' and that comes at Jesus' trial. He is charged with the 'wittin (knowledge) that he brocht: A Christian is a Socialist or nocht.'
How can it be that the rich and exploiter class are often the ones who attend church on a regular basis and claim to be Christian? How is it that the hapless Mrs May went to church, when as Home Secretary she made vans run around London with the words 'Go Home' printed on their side? These vans were directed at people of colour who had lived here for 50 years. How can she profess her Christianity while apparently holding others in such disfavour? How could she have led a political party of the rich for the rich, while overseeing Victorian levels of inequality and maintain she is a Christian?
The answer, of course, is the same as it has always been – easily. Her Prime Ministerial resignation speech showed how delusional she had been politically – so why should delusion not be part of religious faith either?
The Letter of St. James tells us 'faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.' And 'works' meant good works like helping the poor and not adding to their number. To be Christian, at least according to its founder, you have to 'do unto others as you would wish them to do unto you.' Without active concern for the poor, the victimised and marginalised, your professed faith is rather empty. Burns railed against religious hypocrisy in his day and Hershaw is simply saying the same today. What is different though is that Hershaw's Jesus himself rails against such rank religious hypocrisy.
When Mrs Thatcher came and addressed the Church of Scotland General Assembly in 1988 she told them, 'Christianity is about spiritual redemption, not social reform.' Jesus the Miner would no doubt reply to this 'you cannot have one without the other.' Jesus of the New Testament would similarly agree, especially when we recall his words in Matthew 19:24, 'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.' It is the multi-millionaires and billionaires who should be afraid because of what they have done and what they continue to do.
This is where Jesus the Miner and Jesus of the New Testament have such a powerful message. Both preach love for all, including your enemies. All will be forgiven and all it takes to be forgiven is a change of heart. This is the essence of the Christian message. This is the great magnanimity of that message; this is the theological simplicity of it all. As with most theories, however, there is often the problem with praxis. Because the rich are so powerful they want to maintain their position of supremacy over others by keeping their riches – and continually adding to them – by keeping others down.
When Jesus the Miner is 'flung in their jyle' (jail) he is also scourged by 'the Polis'. He is 'punched and kicked' as 'Centurions waved tenners in his face.' They called him 'commie scum' and said, 'This kicking's juist the stert o mair tae come.'
That kicking of anyone who stands up to the rich has been taking place for a long time now. The early Christians were persecuted for their belief, yet it was their persistence with that belief that ended slavery in the ancient world. The Hebrew word 'anawim' describes the lowest of the low, the scum of the earth and it was these people who became the first followers of this new faith. Once an idea takes hold, Lenin said, it can become a material force. That was certainly true of Christianity, and like socialism it has never been properly practised internationally because the rich and powerful have never allowed either to be properly practised.
It has been suggested that when the Emperor Constantine de-criminalised Christianity in 313 and converted to it on his deathbed, and later in 380 when the Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Empire, that the faith became compromised. The rich and powerful could use it for their own purposes. After this, of course, the Church split in two between a Catholic west and an Orthodox east, and then during the Reformation there came into being countless new Protestant churches. Jesus the Miner speaks for no church and only speaks for himself and what he says is remarkably like the original Jesus.
Although the original Christian message may have been compromised there have been many followers in all traditions who have stayed true to that message. It was the former Archbishop of Olinda and Recife in north-eastern Brazil, Dom Helder Camara, who famously said, 'When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist.'
There were many priests and theologians in Latin America who developed what was known as liberation theology. Two of the most famous texts were 'A Theology of Liberation' (1971) by Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez and 'Jesus Christ Liberator' (1972) by Leonardo Boff OFM. Liberation theology was all about bringing 'good news to the poor' again, as Jesus had originally intended. Jesus the Miner would surely approve of them.
With the arrival of Pope John Paul II, such theologies and practices were frowned upon. Under the tutelage of Cardinal Ratzinger from the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, an Instruction went out against the practise of liberation theology called 'Libertatis Nuntius' in 1984. This was followed up by a Papal visit to parts of Latin America and a finger-waving Pontiff was shown on the BBC news telling off Boff in Brazil, and the poet-priest Ernesto Cardenal who had joined the first Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The reason this was shown was because this was a Pope fiercely opposed to socialism and maybe this was why the media seemed to warm to him.
After the death of John Paul II the new Pope was Benedict XVI – the former Cardinal Ratzinger. He has since resigned, and it was widely believed that he did so because he could not deal with the corruption inside the Curia, along with all the extensive cover-ups of clerical abuse now being exposed internationally. It has been left to Francis I to deal with this.
Capitalism is the dung of the Devil
Pope Francis would have personally known of liberation priests who were murdered in Argentina by the junta there, for serving the poor. He may well have met Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was murdered by El Salvadorean death squads in their fight against leftists in 1980. While Romero was not a liberation theologian, he was on the side of the poor, and he spoke out against their poverty and social injustice. Pope Francis has called capitalism 'the dung of the Devil.' He wants bridges rather than walls built between peoples, and wishes migrants fleeing poverty and war to be treated with love and compassion. Jesus the Miner would like the sound of that.
What he may not like the sound of is the new theology that has spread into Latin America from the United States. The gap opened up by Libertatis Nuntius has enabled Protestant Evangelicals proclaiming what is known as 'prosperity theology' to make inroads in a continent that was once largely Catholic. Their Christian fundamentalist influence has helped secure the Presidency of Bolsonaro in Brazil.
According to Mary Fitzgerald's recent article in 'openDemocracy' (24 May 2019) over $50 million in 'dark money' has come into Europe from American religious conservative groups associated with Trump in the last decade. This money has funded campaigns that are dear to the far right, such as ending LGBTI rights, and ending the reproductive rights of women, as well as securing Europe from 'Muslim invaders.'
This rhetoric has also railed against EU elites and has led to a fair crop of far-right representation at the recent EU elections. Steve Bannon, in his base at the Certosa di Trissulti monastery – a two hour drive south-east of Rome – has declared that Pope Francis is the enemy because of his mission for the poor and for his support of migrants. Religion has always been disfigured by the rich, powerful and unaccountable, with agendas that use religion for their own self-aggrandising political and economic ends. And any national populist turn in Britain or in Europe as a whole will simply continue that age-old exploitation.
He pushed brillo pads doun Grandi's lungs
In Station 5 of Hershaw's poem, we hear about the terrible things done to miners and their families by King Coal. We are told he was a 'spine-snapper, baa (testicle) – squeezer…..bairn-beater…..compensation-refuser..…match-fixer..…inquest-wrangler…..sulfur-choker…..telegram-bringer.' In a grim reminder of what the miner's life was like, we are told King Coal 'pushed brillo pads doun Grandi's lungs.' All the horrible respiratory diseases are contained in this image. King Coal 'mashed up our ambitions intae potted hough…he'd hypnotised us no tae believe in futures.'
These are real sentiments that must have been held by many a miner down the years but what did hold them together was their solidarity with one another. To survive down in the bowels of the earth you needed that solidarity with your fellow workers. It got you through your shift, and when you came up to the surface that solidarity was still there. This solidarity was also supported and strengthened by the National Union of Miners.
In 1973 the NUM paid for a bus of Chilean refugees fleeing from the scourges of Pinochet's regime, a regime supported by the US to try out the new shock therapy of monetarist economics. The bus travelled from London to Cowdenbeath where the refugees would be housed. Thousands of miles from their homeland, the Chileans saw and heard the pipers playing and marching them to their new homes. Their homes had toys for the children, blankets on their beds and warm coal fires burning as they entered their new houses.
Here was room at the inn, true Christian charity of the most generous: here was international working-class solidarity at its finest. And this charity, this solidarity was delivered by a group of workers who, like the 'anawim' of the ancient world, were looked down upon and reviled by the rich for challenging their rule.
Today, this inspiring recollection is all the more sad, because last year in Cowdenbeath where King Coal is now absent, a Boyne 'celebration' was held by the Orange Order, addressed by Arlene Foster of the DUP. This event was the antithesis of what this area once represented. The CP within the NUM had successfully challenged the blight of sectarianism that seeks to divide workers. While our environmental consciousness today would not condone coal mining, the great loss of working-class solidarity is still something to be lamented.
The solidarity of all who are oppressed
Unlawfully jailed, victimised and blacklisted it is 'The Wummen o the Soup Kitchen' (Station 8) who 'kept saul and body thegither' for Jesus the Miner. By mentioning these women Hershaw does not merely conjure up the followers in the Gospel accounts who were women – his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene, a former prostitute, being among his most faithful followers – he also helps us to recall the incredible contribution miners' wives made during the 84-85 strike. Their activism and sacrifice was phenomenal. And just as those with power and wealth seek to divide worker from worker so they also try to do the same between men and women. It is the solidarity of all those who are oppressed that they fear most and that is why they must be divided.
The wummen o the soup kitchen kept saul/And body thegither syne
'The Wummen o the Soup Kitchen' were the heroines who had 'smiles and faith/ And breid (bread) and soup they biggit (built-up) better men.' Jesus the Miner had sought their help after he was 'blacklistit fae ilka (every) pit in Fife.' This was because, after the Great War, he had said in 1921,'This is nae land for heroes comin hame.' He had told the 'dochters (daughters) o the coalfield 'greet nae for me' (don't cry for me) but 'mourn for yersels, and for yer stervan bairns' (starving children). Here he aligns himself with the poor and this was natural for him because he too is poor and made poor by those in power.
The painful route Christ took walking the Via Doloroso is cleverly paralleled as Jesus the Miner seeks to come to the aid of his fellow miners trapped down in a mine shaft. While he manages to 'bring thaim tae the surface' he found there was 'nae hamewird passage up' for himself. He writes a last message with a piece of chalk onto a wall of coal, and it is written for 'wee Jockie.' He asks him 'tae tak care o ma Mither' and 'to luik out for our dear comrades' and to 'screive (write) doun our gospel tale.'
The use of the word 'comrades' here is interesting. The word is usually used on the left to suggest not just friendship but a brotherly or sisterly recognition that both parties are engaged in the greatest challenge of all and that is the liberation of mankind. The spiritual struggle and the political one are inexorably linked here as Jesus the Miner writes this word on the wall.
You are fogien. This Setturday nicht, I trow/You'll dance wi your Jean upby in the Goth
By way of re-assuring 'The Guid Thief o the Lindsay Pit' (Station 11) that, despite his foolishness in lighting up a 'sleekit (sly) Woodbine' that 'blew aa Kelty up' and killed and maimed many miners, Jesus tells him, 'You'll dance wi your Jean upby in the Goth …this Satturday nicht.' However, this hope seems dashed as the pit props were made of cheap timber and 'the ruif (roof) came doun on tap o Jesus back.'
And remarkably, echoing the historical crucifixion of Christ, Jesus the Miner trapped underneath timber, pit props and stones 'lay there greetan (crying) in the daurk/Whiles bluid and watter skailt (spilled) fae out his side.' And he said seven words – 'Oh faither, why has thou forsaken me?'
Many miners have died this way, but Jesus the Miner is clearly no ordinary miner. He represents all miners, he represents the NUM and he represents the broader working class itself. The destruction of this industry, prepared well in advance by Ridley and Thatcher, was designed to smash not just an industry and an irritant union, but to put the working class back in their place. This brutal event has given the ruling class the rotten fruits of foodbanks, zero-hours contracts, non-unionised workplaces, Universal Credit, rising homelessness and a hundred other rotten fruits besides. It could be said that the Crucifixion of Jesus the Miner is in fact the Crucifixion of the working class.
The Inquiry found 'mistakes had been made'......The Pit was closed in 1910.
As Jesus languishes at the bottom of a shaft this becomes his tomb. Station 13 'Laid in a Tomb' is the only poem throughout the sequence that is written in English. The expressive and effusive use of Scots is banished in favour of the colder and more callous use of English that can hide its deeds behind the words it uses. All the governmental buzzwords are here in this short poem – 'mistakes had been made'……'further recommendations'……'future improvements'……'no individual was deemed to blame for the accident'……'due to the financial outlay'……'geological difficulties'……'too dangerous to reclaim the body.'
Thousands of miners' wives have read such letters after fatal accidents concerning their husbands. The language used here from the inquiry is the language of power. It is a language that anaesthetises thought for a while, as the bureaucratic register deliberately obfuscates where culpability really lies. It brings to mind Hillsborough, the Bogside and Grenfell.
Blessit are thaim wi a drouth for richt
In 'The Ballant o the Miner Christ' (Station 14) Jesus has now become Christ because he has 'maistered Daith.' Hershaw tells us here, 'This tale's a baur (joke), a comedy.' There is no need for tears. Instead, because Jesus mastered death 'Let fowk (folk) get fou (drunk), let aa rejoice.'
In 'Apocrypha 2: Efter Hours' it is fitting that Jesus should turn up in the Goth and meet with Tam. Jesus tells him it is 'Nae miracle – ye hinnae seen a ghaist.' Cleverly too Hershaw has Jesus tell Tam that he is not in any hereafter but in 'the here and nou (now).' And what needs to be done 'here and nou' is what should always have been done before – 'Let our leid (language) aye be love.' Again, Hershaw has taken us to the essence of the Christian message in all its utter simplicity.
In 'Spare me nae Beatitudes' there are two lines that seem to represent what is at the heart of 'The Sair Road' – 'Blessit are thaim wi a drouth (thirst) for richt: They will get unco fou.' The demand for 'richt' is not really a demand for right and certainly not a demand for righteousness but a demand for justice, for social justice.
As a result of the demise of the mining industry and the subsequent attacks on the working class as a whole, former mining areas – like many other de-industrialised areas – are now full of 'smack-heids', 'junkies,' 'drunkarts,' 'jaikies,' 'hameless,' and 'gangrels' (beggars). They have all fallen through the pit shafts of social and personal disintegration.
But this 'sair road' that all the casualties have to follow – and because of our existential condition as social beings, we are all casualties – will find justice and redemption one day. Effectively, the resurrection of Jesus the Miner is the hoped-for resurrection of the working classes. They have been, and still are, walking 'the sair road' but there is no reason to say that they will keep walking this road. They may see the light and climb the mountain to their eventual redemption. It should be 'here and nou' but it will come nonetheless. Many genuine socialists and true Christians believe this.
Or to put it another way it is similar to Antonio Gramsci's formulation of 'The pessimism of the intellect and the optimism of the will.' Beckett's work illustrates how we all walk the same 'sair road,' the same existential road, aimlessly groping our way in the dark. Unlike George Osborne's 'we are all in this together' when he can protect himself with his wealth from life's adversities, 'the sair road' offers no protection for those with money. Along 'the sair road' we truly are in this all together. Or as the old adage has it – you can't take it with you.
In the final poem 'Isaiah 2:2-6' there is the hope and the promise of 'paice for ivirmair' (peace for evermore) when our guns will be 'wrocht (turned) intil ploushares.' This is a fitting conclusion to 'The Sair Road.'
Love, death, religion and revolution
The collection raises many issues and implications. It was a brave decision by Hershaw to write it and to write it in Scots. The use of Scots actually makes the poem all the more credible because to write on a subject like this in English would be to draw forth issues concerning the words Jesus the Miner uses. Would he have to talk as he does in the Gospels? How would he sound among Fife miners if he spoke English? What kind of accent would he have? The use of Scots makes Jesus the Miner exactly like everyone else. There is no difference in accent and therefore no class division either. Hershaw chose Scots well in 'The Sair Road.'
If Hershaw's choice of Scots was a good one then his decision to show that Jesus the Miner 'has little time for organised religion' was an even better one. The most obvious point here is that organised religion – especially in the West (though not the USA) is in decline. There is also a widespread revulsion against the growing number of cases coming to light of clerical sexual abuse. This is particularly true of the Catholic Church. By keeping Jesus the Miner away from any notional sense of church involvement, Hershaw avoids any taint of denominational preference or having to defend such a preference.
'The Sair Road', however, raises many issues that have had a past debate and continue to be discussed today. It was Dostoyevsky in 'The Brothers Karamazov' (1879-80) who has Ivan Karamazov tell the tale of 'The Grand Inquisitor'. Christ returned to earth, he says, during the time of the Spanish Inquisition in Seville. The local people recognised him and gather round Seville Cathedral to welcome him. Inquisitors eventually arrest him and Christ is told by the Grand Inquisitor that the church has no need of him today. Christ is to be burned at the stake but during the night before this is to take place, the Grand Inquisitor visits him in his cell. Christ listens to him without speaking himself. The Grand Inquisitor then decides to allow Christ to leave 'into the dark alleys of the city.'
Christ had been condemned by the Inquisition for giving us all the freedom to walk 'the sair road' with all that implies for us. The Church, maintained the Grand Inquisitor, kept everyone happy by taking away their freedom. Jesus the Miner, like all miners and all workers, chooses 'the sair road' which ultimately brings resurrection and redemption. And just as the ordinary people in Seville recognised and loved Christ, so too the ordinary miners and their families have taken Jesus the Miner to their hearts.
There is also a well-known sketch by the Irish comedian, Dave Allen, that similarly deals with this conflict between Christ and the Church that claims to carry his message. As reverential music is being played while the Three Wise Men look down upon the baby Jesus in his crib, a rush of fervent Irish nuns appear and take hold of the child saying, 'Well now, we will just be making sure that he is brought up the right way.'
In one of Terry Eagleton's recent books 'Radical Sacrifice' (2018) we can find something akin to the idea inherent in 'The Sair Road'. Eagleton's work over many decades has been inspired by Marxism in his work on literary criticism and cultural theory, yet his Marxism also shows a debt to his earlier Catholicism. Thomas Docherty in his 'Literature and Capital' (2018) talks of Eagleton's 'quasi- religious turn' and it could be that such a 'turn' maybe only became apparent after the publication of 'After Theory' (2003). This study sought to re-invigorate the left by saying that the age of theory is surely over now. In attacking the postmodernists who claimed that the era of what they called 'meta-narratives' was over – ie religious systems, philosophical systems and political ones like communism – Eagleton claimed that they made little mention of the most dangerous 'meta-narrative' of all that is capitalism.
He argued that it was time to cast aside the empty relativism of the postmodernists and to re-engage with the big issues all over again. He could well have been saying that 'man does not live by bread alone.' For him the big issues meant love, evil, death, morality, metaphysics, religion and revolution. Marx, it should be remembered, said something similar – 'Philosophers have only interpreted the world. The point is to change it.' Eagleton would support this comment, but would add a caustic comment of his own saying that the postmodernists have not really interpreted very much.
'Radical Sacrifice' looks at the role of the 'scapegoat' in both primitive and modern societies. Jesus was a scapegoat in his time as were his followers. Creating scapegoats enables the status quo to remain the status quo. The miners in 84-85 were the scapegoats and today it is Muslims and migrants. Both 'Radical Sacrifice' and 'The Sair Road' seek to re-engage with issues of love, death, religion and revolution.
Similarly, some of the recent work by Marxists who profess their atheism nonetheless offer penetrating insights into the revolutionary potential of early religion. Alain Badiou in 1997 brought out 'Saint Paul: The Foundations of Universalism'. Badiou considers St Paul to have been a profoundly original thinker who still has the revolutionary potential to inspire in the 21st century. It should be remembered that Paul was the one who took the message of Christ across the ancient world and helped set up the first Christian communities. He lived an impoverished life himself. He was Christianity's first theologian if you like.
One of his deepest insights was to say in Galatians 3:28: 'There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.' Here is the principle of Christian egalitarianism which ended slavery in the ancient world. It did so through love, through the unconditional love of others. Such a principle is not a million miles away from 'The workers have nothing to lose but their chains. Workers of the world unite.' That unity is required more now than ever before.
Slavoj Žižek has engaged in recent years in dialogues on faith in 'The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic?' (2009) with John Milbank and in 'God in Pain' (2012) with Boris Gunjevic. Both texts discuss faith in the 21st century and dissect its revolutionary potential. This places 'The Sair Road' in extremely good company. The ongoing catastrophe that is capitalism should make us think deeper than ever before. To go forward you must always check the past by digging deeper into it than ever before also.
The sodgers played at pitch and toss,
Hey caw through, though doul the daw,
Wi Jesus nailed attour the Cross.
His love rules aa!
The final word on this remarkable book should go not to Hershaw but to his wonderful illustrator Les McConnell. His drawings do more than illustrate the meanings of the poem, they extend and enhance them, providing a fine accompaniment to the fine 'The Sair Road.' His drawings that accompany the text are sensitively rendered and enhance the poem tremendously well. They bring out both the detailed particularity of the scenes depicted, and the more abstract connections being imagined in the poem between Jesus' revolutionary message and the struggle of the miners and the working class as a whole for economic, political and spiritual liberation – the communist dream of a society where 'love rules aa!'
The Sair Road by William Hershaw, illustrated by Les McConnell, is published by Grace Note Publications, price £20.
Silenced voices from the margins: Irish working-class writing
Published in Cultural Commentary
Jenny Farrell reviews a new anthology of working-class writing
A History of Irish Working-Class Writing, edited by Michael Pierse (CUP 2017) is a book to be greatly welcomed. It is the first study of such scope, attempting to present and analyse the entire body of Irish working-class literature. It begins with the first writings of rural workers in the 18th century and brings the reader right up to the present day.
The study of working-class literature was a significant field of Marxist research in the socialist countries, beginning in the Soviet Union, where the works of such authors were translated, analysed and published from early on. It is left to the German expert Gustav Klaus, author of the Afterword, to state this.
Twenty-two chapters examine various aspects of this seriously under-researched field of literature, ranging across three centuries and three continents. The book attempts to give as comprehensive an overview as possible. Its publication coincides with similar companions to the working-class literature of Britain and the United States.
There is of course always a degree of reservation when working-class literature comes under the scrutiny of largely middle-class academics. In parallel to the militancy with which the gender of authors acceptable to writing about women is scrutinised, one might ask: How familiar are these academics with the working-class experience? How much of this experience will be grasped? What do they see, and what not? How high-handed will they be in commenting on the literary production of the working class? These are valid concerns.
In antagonistic class society, the working class comprises of those people who possess nothing but their labour power. They are in an exploitative relationship with the owners of the means of production, the bourgeoisie, and participate only marginally in the fruits of their labour. As producers of surplus value, they create the basis of national wealth, yet their living conditions are frequently precarious. The rural proletariat must be included among working-class writers. Small farmers are a periphery group of the rural proletariat, who often hardly exist above subsistence level, while contributing to the national wealth. Equally peripheral to the working class are the ever-increasing number of people in precarious employment, and the unemployed.
Working-class authors must be read not merely in terms of their origins but also of how central this experience is to their writing, how aware they are of the inhuman and war-hungry system that exploits them, how their characters envisage their own emancipation and a better, more humane and peace-loving world.
One of the most striking omissions in the book is any recognition of working-class writing in the Irish language. There is no dedicated chapter on this, nor is there any meaningful inclusion of writers in Irish.
Decorated initial by Mícheál Óg Ó Longáin, 1821
We mention some of these here to indicate the seriousness of this exclusion. Mícheál Óg Ó Longáin (1766–1837), cowherd and labourer, later teacher and scribe, joined with the United Irishmen in their anti-colonial struggle. From a long line of Gaelic scribes, Ó Longáin, born when the role and prominence of Gaelic scribes was all but lost, eked out an existence, working as a wandering labourer, and living in poverty for most of his life. Neither is there any discussion of the 20th century literary giants Pádraic Ó Conaire, Máirtin Ó Caidhin, Dónall Mac Amhlaigh, or Máirtín Ó Direáin.
Pádraic Ó Conaire wrote the finest (only) no-holds-barred novel Deoraíocht (Exile) dealing with the raw reality of the Irish working class and Gaeltacht diaspora in early 20th century London, and a plethora of short stories in which his identification with the working class is made clear.
Máirtín Ó Cadhain, a left republican who spent the 2nd World War years in the Curragh prison camp, is arguably the finest 20th century Irish-language prose writer. His collections of short stories and novel Cré na Cille (Graveyard Clay) reflect the grinding poverty and hopelessness of his people, the small farmers and fisher folk of the West Galway Gaeltacht, on whose behalf he agitated all of his adult life.
The prose writing of Dónall Mac Amhlaigh, a building labourer in Northampton and the English Midlands, especially his Dialann Deoraí (An Emigrant's Diary) – express the life and feelings of mid-20th c fellow Gaeltacht labourers in England. A member of the British Labour Party, his writing breathes his socialist sensibility.
Máirtín Ó Direáin is the best 20th c Irish-language poet. His childhood in a poverty-stricken household in Inis Mór, Aran, instilled in him a lifelong sympathy for all oppressed, by the capitalist order which finds full expression in his poetry. His fine lament for James Connolly mirrors that of Somhairle Maclean, the leading 20th century Scottish Gaelic poet, of marked communist sympathies, remembered also for his poetic celebration of John Maclean and the Red Clyde.
In the early chapters, there is also a surprising sense of insularity. Although the popularity of the radical Scottish poet Robert Burns among the working class in 18th and 19th century Ireland is mentioned several times, there is no exploration as to why that might have been the case. Indeed, the epochal upheaval of the American and French Revolutions, their unprecedented and hope-inspiring effect on the working classes of all of Europe with the promise of equality, comradeship and liberty, are not part of the picture. Yet these events, along with the anti-colonial revolution in Haiti, were major factors in the development of the United Irishmen, who had mass support in Ireland and in their later years increasingly attracted working-class members. Without such a contextual, historical context, the writings of the working class lose the meaning they had at the time.
Occasionally, the tone of an author towards the writer discussed comes across as slightly patronising. Dublin-born Robert Tressell's The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists is the first major working-class novel in English literature. It was written between 1906 and 1910 and first published posthumously in abridged editions in 1914 and 1916. Tressell (Robert Noonan) found no publisher and no editor, and the abridged versions removed his socialist ideas from the novel. Its full text only appeared, exactly as he first wrote it, in 1955. The working class has widely embraced the novel as an important text about their experience and written from their own point-of-view. It is not merely about the working-class experience – it also reflects on ways out of it.
The Tressell-like main character Owen is a Marxist, and tries to explain to his fellow house-painters how the system works, the Great Money Trick, and how to change this life-denying system. Never before in the English realist novel, had the actual labour process been central to the depiction of class struggle. For the first time, Tressell reverses the assumption that life begins where work ends – work is essential to fully lived human life. A character's attitude to labour is a touchstone of his/ her humanity.
This novel is discussed at different points in the study, but not always in full recognition of its achievement. For example in Michael Pierse's own chapter, he generalises to a degree that devalues the differentiated image of the working class presented by Tressell. Paul Delaney on the other hand goes into deeper analysis in his chapter on early 20th c working-class fiction.
In chapters on working-class writers from the North of Ireland, there are glaring exclusions of just such authors. For example, the chapter entitled 'Poetry and the Working Class in Northern Ireland' focuses almost exclusively on the not so working-class in subject matter: poets Heaney, Mahon and Longley. Such emphasis on the existing canon occurs in several chapters and in a way misses the point. There is no reference to Ciaran Carson, bilingual (Irish and English) son of a postal worker and highly regarded writer and translator of poetry in both languages. There are other omissions, including again the Irish language tradition, for example Gearóid Mac Lochlainn. Equally, the names of Northern working-class fiction writers do not appear in this book: Danny Morrison, poet Ciaran Carson's novelist brother Brendan Carson, Sam McAughtry or Ian Cochrane. Nor, strikingly, Man Booker Prize winner Anna Burns's novels. They are not even listed in the many lists of writers that appear (without much comment) throughout this book.
However, despite these shortcomings, A History of Irish Working-Class Writing is a very good starting point for anybody seeking to discover something about this vital tradition. It highlights the stature of Sean O'Casey, Brendan Behan and other titans of Irish working-class literature. The authors have collected many names and writings of Irish working-class writers in Ireland, Britain, the US, Australia and New Zealand. For this reason alone, this book is an invaluable resource. Some of the better chapters discuss the literature they present in detail and analysis, making for more interesting reading.
Rita Ann Higgins
Two chapters that stand out for me in this respect are chapter 11 on 'Solidarity and Struggle in Irish-American Working-Class Literature' and chapter 14 on 'Early 20th century Working-Class Fiction' both of which look at their texts in terms of socialism and internationalism as well as offering more in-depth analyses. In other chapters, such engagement with the actual texts would have enriched them. For example, Heather Laird writing about working-class Irish women writers, comments about Rita Ann Higgins that she is one of the few female writers whose poems "feature female speakers with a strong grasp of the part state institutions play in consolidating the power dynamics that underpin the prevailing socio-economic and gender status quo". After such a statement, the reader expects to be presented with the text and the evidence. Surely, one of the questions we have about working-class literature is not simply the setting but about in what way the writers' understanding of their class within capitalist society is forged into an awareness of how to bring about a change to their lives.
This book proves that an independent archive of working-class writings must be set up to collect documents and manuscripts often deemed unworthy of publication by commercial publishers and unrecognised by mainstream academics. A great example for such an undertaking is The Working Class Movement Library, founded in Manchester by Ruth and Edmund Frow. Only in this way will important records of working-class lives, such as their autobiographies, but also their other writings be collected as the aesthetic statement of what the lives of so many were and are like.
A History of Irish Working-Class Writing is an academic publication. Priced at £79.99, it is ironically well beyond the means of the working class. However, despite its shortcomings, it is a valuable reference book. Everybody with an interest in working–class writings, as the voice of those who are marginalised and silenced in the writing of history, literary and art criticism, should ensure that their local library owns a copy for their readers.
A History of Irish Working-Class Writing, CUP 2017, is available here
The Divided Self: a poem for Burns Night
by Keith Armstrong
'When'er my muse does on me glance, I jingle at her.' (Robert Burns).
Such an eye in a human head,
from the toothless baby
to the toothless man,
the Edinburgh wynds
bleed whisky.
Through all the Daft Days,
we drink and gree
in the local howffs,
dancing down
Bread Street.
Like burns with Burns
these gutters run;
where Fergusson once tripped,
his shaking glass
in our inky fingers,
delirium tugs
at our bardish tongues;
dead drunk,
we dribble down
a crafty double
for Burke & Hare,
heckle a Deacon Brodie
gibbering
on the end
of the hangman's rope.
In all these great and flitting streets
awash with cadies,
this poet's dust
clings
like distemper to our bones.
We're walking through
the dark and daylight,
the laughs
and torture
of lost ideals.
Where is the leader of the mob Joe Smith,
that bowlegged cobbler
who snuffed it on these cobbles,
from this stagecoach pissed?
Where is the gold
of Jinglin' George Heriot?
Is it in the sunglow on the Forth?
We're looking for girls of amazing beauty
and whores of unutterable filth:
'And in the Abbotsford
like gabbing asses
they scale the heights
of Ben Parnassus.'
Oh Hugh me lad
we've seen some changes.
In Milne's, your great brow scowls the louder;
your glass of bitterness
deep as a loch:
'Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear
And the rocks melt wi' the sun.'
Oh Heart
of Midlothian,
it spits on
to rain
still hopes.
Still hope in her light meadows
and in her volcanic smiles.
And we've sung with Hamish
in Sandy Bell's
and Nicky Tams
and Diggers,
a long hard sup
along the cobbles
to the dregs
at the World's End:
'Whene'er my muse does on me glance,
I jingle at her.'
Bright as silver,
sharp as ice,
this Edinburgh of all places,
home to a raving melancholia
among the ghosts
of Scotland's Bedlam:
'Auld Reekie's sons blythe faces',
shades of Fergusson in Canongate.
And the blee-e'ed sun,
the reaming ale
our hearts to heal;
the muse of Rose Street
seeping through us boozy bards,
us snuff snorters
in coughing clouds.
in this Edinburgh dream:
the polished monocle
of Sydney Goodsir Smith,
glittering by
his stained inhaler;
and the black velvet jacket
of RLS,
slumped by
a battered straw hat.
wolf whistles
along Waterloo Place;
and lovers
kiss moonlight
on Arthur's Seat:
see Edinburgh rise.
from her eyes.
(from Imagined Corners, Smokestack Books, 2004).
Our common humanity: Robert Burns and For A' That
Jenny Farrell discusses the focus on our common humanity in Robert Burns's For A' That, and the way it foretells the 'programme which will govern the world of liberated humanity'.
Every so often, history presents us with an amazing affirmation of our common humanity, a sense of continuity, the passing on of the torch. This applies supremely to Robert Burns's song For A' That.
Robert Burns was born in Alloway, Ayrshire, on 25 January 1759. He lived in an age of revolution: the American War of Independence, the French Revolution, the anti-slavery and anti-colonial revolution in Haiti and an agrarian revolution in Scotland, to name some landmark events. The capitalist modernisation of agriculture brought with it financial gain on the one hand, and social polarisation on the other – wealthy tenants versus a rural proletariat.
Dean Castle, Ayrshire, 1790
A class struggle in the modern sense ensued. Those owning the means of production, providing food to the battlefields and the industrial centres, made enormous profits. The poor had too little to live on, and financial crisis, hunger and tuberculosis swept over Scotland.
The dispossessed of Scotland, among them Robert Burns, warmly welcomed the new ideas coming from across the Atlantic. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal", was joined a few years later by the French declaring a new era of liberty, equality and fraternity. At this time, in 1795, not long before his early death aged 37 in 1776, Burns wrote his most famous song For A' That, a song celebrating and affirming the idea of the universal brotherhood of the dispossessed:
Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an' a' that;
The coward slave - we pass him by, = we pass by the coward who is ashamed of his poverty
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that.
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp, = aristocratic rank is only the face stamped on a coin
The Man's the gowd for a' that. = gold
At the heart of all of Burns's poetry are the concerns of the ordinary people of Scotland. By addressing the specifics of their lives, Burns achieves a universality that applies to all working people. He gives voice to milkmaids and ploughmen, weavers and farmers' wives, soldiers and travelling musicians, creating a cosmos in which ordinary folk can recognise themselves as part of a whole community. Such complete and realistic portrayal of the people asserts their common humanity and engenders pride in themselves, and a hatred for their enemies. Depictions like these help Burns's readers to feel the conflict between their humanity and the misery they endure.
Ultimately, this portrayal of ordinary people points to the need for revolutionary change. This prophecy of communism – in the sense of a common cause, expressing the essential commonality of working people – lies at the core of Burns's poetry, and is perhaps most clearly articulated in For A' That. It reflects a sense of dignity, a scorn for the rich and a longing for universal brotherhood. The ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity are no abstract slogans, but already extant, rooted in the lives of the people, logical projections of their humanity.
Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that. = take the prize
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.
Ferdinand Freiligrath, a poet of the German bourgeois revolution of March 1848 to July 1849 (later a renegade), first translated For A' That into German (Trotz Alledem) in 1843. Freiligrath, who knew Marx and Engels, was a member of the Bund der Kommunisten (Communist League - founded in London in 1847), and a member of the editorial board of the revolutionary daily Neue Rheinische Zeitung, published by Marx and Engels between 1848 and 1849.
Freiligrath picked up Burns's torch of revolution.He changed the text of Trotz Alledem to suit the German situation, whilst retaining the title, rhythm, and main idea, and it was printed in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung on 6 June 1848. This text survives in the German political song movement to this day.
The final edition of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, printed in red ink. Its editors were threatened with arrest or exile. Marx emigrated to London.
On 8 November 1918, the German sailors' mutiny in Kiel sparked revolutionary revolt across the country. When it reached Berlin, Karl Liebknecht proclaimed a free socialist republic of Germany. On the 9 November, Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg founded a new daily revolutionary paper, Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag) as the paper of the Spartacus League, of which they were the leaders, and shortly afterwards of the Communist Party, founded on 1 January 1919. Two weeks later, on 15 January 1919, both Liebknecht and Luxemburg were murdered.
Liebknecht wrote the editorial for 15 January the previous day. It is his final public statement, and his legacy. The article, seizing the torch of revolution, is entitled Trotz alledem (For all That) and ends:
The defeated of today will be the victorious of tomorrow. (…) The German working class's way to Golgotha is not over ... we are accustomed to being flung from the peak into the depths. Yet our ship keeps a straight course firmly and proudly to its destination. And whether we will still be alive when this is achieved - our programme will live; it will govern the world of liberated humanity. For All That!
This window can still be seen in the former GDR Council of State building in Berlin
For A' That
by Robert Burns
The coward slave-we pass him by,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that:
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, an' a' that;
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that;
But an honest man's abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that!
Their dignities an' a' that;
The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth,
Are higher rank than a' that.
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
Shall brothers be for a' that.
Email us info@culturematters.org.uk
The Real Robert Burns
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Due to the unrest in Egypt in January and February, the looting of ancient objects and the smuggling of these has risen considerably, according to France Desmarais, director of programs at the International Committee of Museums (ICOM). Officially, 54 objects are missing from Egypt since the revolution, but Desmarais does not believe the looting and smuggling is finished.
"In view of the country's history regarding looting and the general need to protect cultural objects from international illegal trade and export, being aware of current [security situation] remains necessary," Desmarais says.
Therefore the ICOM has decided to create a "red list" of objects that are under threat from antiquity thieves. The Egyptian Red List Committee, which consists of experts from the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the ICOM, along with international and local experts, has listed a description of categories or types of cultural items that are most likely to be illegally bought and sold.
"'The Emergency Red List of Egyptian Cultural Objects at Risk' is not a list of stolen objects, it is a list of categories of objects that are protected by Egyptian and international legislation and that are most at risk of being illicitly exported and traded," Desmarais explains.
The list will be distributed to customs officials and antiquity art markets worldwide and should function as a sort of a checklist in order to draw border officials' and art dealers' attentions to the illicit trafficking of artifacts.
Art dealers and auction houses are encouraged not to sell any such objects without having thoroughly researched their origins, and border officials are encouraged to be more aware of ancient Egyptian objects being smuggled through.
Ikram, who is a member of the committee, hopes that the list will make it much more difficult for smugglers to bring the artifacts out of their countries unnoticed and later sell them abroad.
The red list is expected to be announced in November. In the meantime, other international efforts are underway to stop thefts at archaeological sites.
In May, a delegation of individuals representing US associations and foundations interested in safeguarding Egypt's antiquities from theft visited Cairo in a quest to collaborate with Egyptian authorities in confronting organized antiquity theft.


text:
Q: ¿Por qué position:fixed no funciona sobre un elemento before? Realizando un topNav me encontré con el problema de que al poner el elemento  dentro de un section al cual le agregue una seudo clase :beforepara agregar un pattern, me topo con el problema de que no funciona la propiedad fixed; Sin embargo al agregarlo en otro section funciona sin problemas, la pregunta es:
¿Por qué en el :before no funciona?
TOPNAV Dentro de Elemento con :Before

html, body{
    height: 100%;
    margin:0;
}
section{
    height: 100%;
    width: 100%;
    position: relative;
}
#section1{
  background-image: url("https://images.wallpaperscraft.com/image/australia_sydney_agua_ciudad_cielo_58777_1920x1080.jpg");
  background-position: center;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-size: cover;
  filter: contrast(90%);
}
#section1:before{
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  width: 100%;
  height:100%;
  opacity:0.5;
  background-color: #303030;
  background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='10' height='10' viewBox='0 0 4 4'%3E%3Cpath fill='%230d0d0d' fill-opacity='0.7' d='M1 3h1v1H1V3zm2-2h1v1H3V1z'%3E%3C/path%3E%3C/svg%3E");
}
#section1 div{
  position: relative;
  z-index: 10;

}

#section2{
  background:blue;
}
#section3{
  background: yellow;
}
<!DOCTYPE html>

    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=se, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.3.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-ggOyR0iXCbMQv3Xipma34MD+dH/1fQ784/j6cY/iJTQUOhcWr7x9JvoRxT2MZw1T" crossorigin="anonymous">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://use.fontawesome.com/releases/v5.8.1/css/all.css" integrity="sha384-50oBUHEmvpQ+1lW4y57PTFmhCaXp0ML5d60M1M7uH2+nqUivzIebhndOJK28anvf" crossorigin="anonymous">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style/estilo.css">
    <title>Document</title>

          Fixed top

TOPNAV En otro Section

html, body{
    height: 100%;
    margin:0;
}
section{
    height: 100%;
    width: 100%;
    position: relative;
}
#section1{
  background-image: url("https://images.wallpaperscraft.com/image/australia_sydney_agua_ciudad_cielo_58777_1920x1080.jpg");
  background-position: center;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-size: cover;
  filter: contrast(90%);
}
#section1:before{
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  width: 100%;
  height:100%;
  opacity:0.5;
  background-color: #303030;
  background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='10' height='10' viewBox='0 0 4 4'%3E%3Cpath fill='%230d0d0d' fill-opacity='0.7' d='M1 3h1v1H1V3zm2-2h1v1H3V1z'%3E%3C/path%3E%3C/svg%3E");
}
#section1 div{
  position: relative;
  z-index: 10;

}

#section2{
  background:blue;
}
#section3{
  background: yellow;
}
<!DOCTYPE html>

    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=se, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.3.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-ggOyR0iXCbMQv3Xipma34MD+dH/1fQ784/j6cY/iJTQUOhcWr7x9JvoRxT2MZw1T" crossorigin="anonymous">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://use.fontawesome.com/releases/v5.8.1/css/all.css" integrity="sha384-50oBUHEmvpQ+1lW4y57PTFmhCaXp0ML5d60M1M7uH2+nqUivzIebhndOJK28anvf" crossorigin="anonymous">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style/estilo.css">
    <title>Document</title>

          Fixed top

A: A ver, vamos por partes...

*

*Si es una navegación fija en la cabecera entiendo que no debe ir asociada a un único
 por lo que meterlo dentro de uno no parece tener mucho sentido

*No veo razón por la que necesites un before para hacer lo que pretendes.

*No has testado bien los casos porque no parece que el issue esté asociado al pseudoelemento :before, pues tanto si se lo agrego al que no lo tiene como si se lo quito desde la consola al que lo tiene, el resultado en ambos casos es el mismo.

Por lo tanto, mi recomendación es:

*

*Saca el  fuera del

*Combina múltiples backgrounds con background-blend-modepara conseguir el efecto de superposición de imagen sobre el "pattern" (patrón en castellano).

De esta forma no sólo podrás superponer una imagen trasparente sino que además podrás jugar con técnicas avanzadas de fusión de color.
Además evitarás usar :pseudoelementos que modifican el DOM al vuelo y a veces dan problemas de rendimiento.

html, body{
    height: 100%;
    margin:0;
}
section{
    height: 100%;
    width: 100%;
    position: relative;
}
#section1, #section2, #section3{
background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='10' height='10' viewBox='0 0 4 4'%3E%3Cpath fill='%230d0d0d' fill-opacity='0.7' d='M1 3h1v1H1V3zm2-2h1v1H3V1z'%3E%3C/path%3E%3C/svg%3E"), url("https://images.wallpaperscraft.com/image/night_city_aerial_view_buildings_197850_1280x720.jpg");
  background-color: #909090;
  background-blend-mode: normal, multiply;
  background-position: center;
  background-repeat: repeat, no-repeat;
  background-size: 8px 8px, cover;
  /*filter: contrast(90%);*/
}

#section2{
  background-color: red;
}
#section3{
  background-color: yellow;
}
<!DOCTYPE html>

    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=se, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.3.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-ggOyR0iXCbMQv3Xipma34MD+dH/1fQ784/j6cY/iJTQUOhcWr7x9JvoRxT2MZw1T" crossorigin="anonymous">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://use.fontawesome.com/releases/v5.8.1/css/all.css" integrity="sha384-50oBUHEmvpQ+1lW4y57PTFmhCaXp0ML5d60M1M7uH2+nqUivzIebhndOJK28anvf" crossorigin="anonymous">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="style/estilo.css">
    <title>Document</title>

    Fixed top

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Hellvape x Heathen bring you the Dead Rabbit RDA. A 24mm, top terminal, four post build deck with gold plated positive posts and a 5mm deep juice well.
Sorry, Dead Rabbit RDA by Hellvape is currently out of stock. If you want, you can leave your email address and we'll notify you if and when it comes back into stock!
This is my first RDA. I have rated it at 4 because I have no reference to another RDA but I do know that this has brought a brand new taste to all my liquid. Bolder and I can actually taste flavors I couldnt before with a tank.
LOVE it! Easy to build on...and love i can use it on my squonk or my regular mods. Would recommend to everyone!
One of the best RDAs to come out on to the market in late 2017 - absolutely love this one - I did sell one that I had gotten in my Oct. 2017 Vapebox, but only because I want to get in a totally different color - this atty is tops!!
I just started building my own coils and this was my first RDA, love it! Looks sick! Hits like a badass! Amazing product!
Havent tried it yet, but the atomizer looks awesome! Comes in different colors.
A great dripper that is easy to build on. Its pretty close to the Pulse 24, but I have a tendency to overdrip and spill with it. I hade no such issues when squanking. A fixed barrel had also made it a bit better. Still great though.
Good RDA. I wish the juice well was a little deeper. The top cap stays on nice. Not to loose or tight.


text:
Q: Using the 'ref' keyword on an array I understand why I should use ref when writing a function to swap two values, but I don't know how to use the keyword on an entire array. It sounds silly, but I have tried sticking the keyword everywhere I could possibly think of (e.g. before the parameter, before the variables, etc...) but I still get the following error:

Error 1 An object reference is required for the non-static field,
  method, or property 'Swap.Program.swapRotations(int[])'

Here is what I have done so far:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Swap
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            int[] A = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7};

            swapRotations(A);

            for (int i = 0; i < A.Length; i++)
                Console.WriteLine(A[i]);

            Console.WriteLine("\nPress any key ...");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }

        private void swapRotations(int[] intArray)
        {
            int bone1Rot = intArray[3];
            int bone2Rot = intArray[5];

            // Make the swap.
            int temp = bone1Rot;
            bone1Rot = bone2Rot;
            bone2Rot = temp;
        }
    }
}

A: Simple just change:
private void swapRotations(int[] intArray);

to:
private static void swapRotations(int[] intArray);

The problem is because the calling method is static so any method it uses either need to have an object referenced to them or be static themselves.
Also have a look at @ASh's answer on how to do the swapRotations function "properly". Note I say properly because there could still be an IndexOutOfRange exception thrown. To do this properly and genericly I'd do something along the lines of the following:
private static void SwapIndexes(int[] array, int index1, int index2)
{
    if (index1 >= array.Length || index2 >= array.Length)
        throw new Exception("At least one of the indexes is out of range of the array");

    int nTemp = array[index1];
    array[index1] = array[index2];
    array[index2] = nTemp;
}

A: swap method doesn't work, because you don't change array at all
no need in ref, just set array elements
private void swapRotations(int[] intArray)
{
    int temp = intArray[3];
    intArray[3] = intArray[5];
    intArray[5] = temp;
}

A: Arrays are Reference types. So there is no need to use ref keyword to pass an array. And your problem is not in ref keyword, but you must call only static methods from static method.
For example:
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        int[] A = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7};

        swapRotations(A);

        for (int i = 0; i < A.Length; i++)
            Console.WriteLine(A[i]);

        Console.WriteLine("\nPress any key ...");
        Console.ReadKey();
    }

    private static void swapRotations(int[] intArray)
    {
        // Make the swap.
        int temp = intArray[3];
        intArray[3] = intArray[5];
        intArray[5] = temp;
    }


A little fiery heat in a basic tomato sauce tossed with seasoned sizzled shrimp and pasta. This Shrimp Fra Diavolo is a quick and easy meal to throw together and one of our favorite Italian Dinner recipes!
I'm not Italian, but it's no secret that Italian families love their food and are very family oriented. In my home area, the Italian restaurants in were all known to be closed on Monday. It was their family day. I think we could all benefit from having one family day a week. Which is why I love Sunday Supper so much! To me, Sunday Supper is all family!
This week Sunday Supper is having an Italian Feast and our host for this event is of Manuela of Manu's Menu. Thank you Manuela for hosting!
This recipe for Shrimp Fra Diavolo is so quick and easy to put together, you could easily make this a week night meal. The shrimp is simply cooked in a little olive oil and garlic, then removed from the pan.
Your spicy tomato sauce is made in the same pan the shrimp is made in. When the sauce is ready, you put the shrimp back into the saucepan and toss to coat. Serve over some cooked pasta along with a nice slice of garlic bread if you wish!
I had to get a good look at all that gorgeous shrimp before I messed it up! What is your favorite Italian dish?
Heat 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic and shrimp; sauté until shrimp are pink (about 3 minutes). Remove from pan; keep warm.
Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil and onion to pan and sauté 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in remaining garlic, pepper, basil, and oregano. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in tomato paste and lemon juice; cook 1 minute. Stir in diced fire roasted tomatoes, and salt. Cook 5 minutes or until thickened. Return shrimp to pan and cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve over pasta.
I love spicy food and shrimp rules with it nice one!
Love how easy this is, and a spicy tomato sauce is always good with shrimp!
This is the kind of dinner that my husband will love. So delicious!
This looks like the perfect excuse to buy some shrimp! YUM!
Any recipe with 1.5 tbsp garlic has my vote! Looks delicious!
I have learnt something from this post, I did not know Mondays are Italian family day! So most authentic Italian restaurant will be closed then? I should cook this on Monday for dinner:D Thank you for sharing the recipe and information.
Wow this looks so yummy, love those flavours!
The fiery heat in this sauce is perfection. I could eat the sauce just dipped in bread.
Simple and delicious like all good Italian food! This is my first time participating in Sunday Supper and I'm loving all the fantastic recipes!!
This would be all mine… no sharing!
I have never made this ever. I don't know why because it's so good! I'll be putting this one on the menu.


avirafree.xyz 10 out of 10 based on 114 ratings. 956 user reviews.
Login To Avira 2019 Online Essentials is really a great choice for individuals who want a no-nonsense antivirus safety suite with very few extras. The business certainly features a entire roster of solutions and features such as a software updater, password manager, VPN, and system analyzer. However, Login To Avira 2019 Online Essentials focuses on its antivirus offerings initial. Antivirus Pro-the topic of this review-is its primary product for house users.
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- Protects against harmful web sites, blocks browser trackers for better internet privacy, and has a price comparison tool for finding deals from trusted sites when you shop online (all included in the totally free internet browser extension).
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Stay ergonomic and stylish with OFM's Modern Mesh Slipcover Back Office Chair. The contemporary design makes a statement in any office, and also enhances the sitter's comfort. The removable mesh back cover is washable, or can be switched out to suit your mood or a change in decor. Features easy ergonomic positioning with the sliding seat position adjustment, gas lift seat height adjustment, fully adjustable ratchet back and arms that are adjustable to 7 different positions. The 27" 5-star base stays stable on the included floor glides. Weight capacity is 250 lbs. Meets or exceeds ANSI/BIFMA safety standards.
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text:
In News by Naijatweet Staff on the 31st, October, 2018
Arsene Wenger Vows To Return In 2019
Arsene Wenger has promised he will be back in football management at the start of 2019, but the Frenchman does not yet know at which club.
The 69-year-old veteran boss ended his 22-year reign at Premier League side Arsenal at the end of last season but insisted at the time he was not yet finished with football.
Asked when he would be back in management, Wenger told Sky Sports on Wednesday: "At the beginning of the year.
"It will seem odd to go somewhere else but I can't tell you (where) because I don't know where I'll be. I'll be somewhere — but I don't know where.
"I have had a good rest and watched football a lot. I have many good memories, so I miss them."
Meanwhile Wenger, whose final seasons in charge of Arsenal saw the once mighty Gunners struggling to contend for the English title, was pleased by the North London giants' start to this season.
Under new manager Unai Emery, Arsenal are currently fourth in the table, just four points behind Premier League leaders and reigning champions Manchester City, despite losing their first two league games this term.
"When Arsenal win I am happy," said Wenger.
"I felt I worked very hard and I think I left it (the club) in good shape.
"After that, I'm a supporter like anyone else — I want them to win football games."
READ ALSO: Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra marry in a star-studded Western ceremony in India
Tags: Arsenal / Arsene Wenger / Frenchman / Premier League


Purple Loosestrife is a semi-aquatic herbaceous plant belonging to the loosestrife family, Lythraceae, native to the wetlands of Eurasia.
It is a herbaceous perennial plant, growing 1-2 m tall, forming clonal colonies 1.5 m or more in width with numerous erect stems growing from a single woody root mass. The stems are reddish-purple and square in cross-section. The leaves are lanceolate, 3-10 cm long and 1-2 cm broad, downy and sessile, and arranged opposite or in whorls of three. The flowers are reddish purple, 10-15 mm diameter, with six petals (occasionally five), and are clustered tightly in the axils of bracts or leaves. The fruit is a small 3-4 mm capsule containing numerous minute seeds. Flowering lasts throughout the summer. When the seeds are mature, the leaves often turn bright red through dehydration in early autumn; the red colour may last for almost two weeks. The dead stalks from previous growing seasons are brown.
Purple loosestrife has become an invasive species since its introduction into temperate New Zealand and North America where it is now considered a noxious weed. The seeds probably first arrived in the plant's non-native areas in muddy ballast water emptied from ships. It has also been used as a medicinal herb and cultivated as a garden plant. The flowers are quite showy and bright, and monotypic fields of purple loosestrife are deceptively attractive. The truth is that purple loosestrife has had a very destructive impact on North American wetland ecology since the early 19th century.


The Coalition Government will invest $1 million to fund land tenure reform and infrastructure upgrades in the Far North Queensland community of Mossman Gorge.
The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, and the Member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch, jointly announced the funding to support the pilot project, which will be delivered in partnership with the Queensland Government.
"One of the most significant challenges to economic development in Mossman Gorge is the current land tenure arrangements which hamper home ownership and business development," Minister Scullion said.
"This pilot project will address this situation through land tenure reform by enabling individual interests in land to be issued.
"Most importantly, the project will lead to better services for local residents and enable $3.7 million in social housing upgrades to occur.
"The project will see a full subdivision of community land and provide a pathway for home ownership as well as an upgrade of municipal infrastructure including roads, water and sewerage reticulation.
Mr Entsch said the project would boost employment among local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as it would be a requirement that Indigenous businesses play a key role in the infrastructure upgrades.
"I would like to congratulate the Mossman Gorge community for its ongoing commitment to improving local economic, housing and municipal outcomes," Mr Entsch said.
"In communities where home ownership is already a reality, there's been a high level of uptake from locals wanting the responsibility of owning and maintaining their property.
"Not only does it boost people's economic participation, but there's a financial benefit for local councils that can receive rates and it also leads to greater levels of community pride.
"I'd also like to acknowledge John McIntyre and the Bamanga Bubu Ngadimunku Inc board who together have driven this home ownership proposal with the Federal and State Governments. Their passion and dedication to improving outcomes for local Indigenous people are to be commended.
This is the sixth land tenure pilot project funded under the Northern Australian White Paper.


text:
55.7. Security for costs
Section 222 empowers the Registrar to require a person who
gives notice of opposition under section 52 or subsections 65A(4), 83A(4) or 224(6), or
applies under Part 9 for removal of a trade mark from the Register,
to give security for costs if that person neither resides nor carries on business in Australia. If security is not given the Registrar may dismiss the proceedings.
Reg 17A.73 is the equivalent provision for proceedings in relation to the protection of an International Registration Designating Australia or the cessation of protection of a Protected International Trade Mark.
The purpose of requiring security for costs is to provide funds, held in trust by the Registrar, to which the other party in the proceedings can have access if successful. At the end of the proceedings, if costs are not awarded against the party who was required to give security, the monies will be returned to that party in full.
In practice the Registrar does not require security for costs to be given unless a person applies for the Registrar to do so.
7.1 Procedure when application is made for Registrar to require security for costs
An application for exercise of the Registrar's discretion under section 222 should be in writing and should include the following details:
the trade mark number, name of the owner and name of the opponent or non-use applicant
the facts on which the application is based, including confirmation that the opponent or non-use applicant does not reside or carry on business in Australia
estimated amount for the security for costs - this amount should be calculated in accordance with Schedule 8 of the Trade Marks Act 1995 (current schedule for costs, expenses and allowances).
The Registrar considers the application before sending a copy to the other side, advising (in an appropriate case) that he or she intends to require security for costs. The sum required as security is at the discretion of the Registrar but is usually for the likely amount of costs taxed according to Schedule 8. (This may be varied, depending on a number of factors such as the likelihood of the action collapsing before it is heard in which case a lower amount would be required). The opponent or non-use applicant is given an opportunity and time within which to comment on the application and on the amount proposed for security. If there are no representations within the time allowed, the Registrar may require the relevant party to give security for costs and specify a time within which the security must be provided. The requesting party will be informed that this has been done.
In the event that the Registrar intends not to require security for costs, the party requesting that security be given is entitled to be heard on that matter.
If security is not given within the time specified, which is usually two months, the Registrar may dismiss the proceeding. Before doing so the Registrar will, in the interests of procedural fairness, give the relevant party an opportunity to be heard. (See Guess Europe SAGL v Nick Zisimopoulis and Mary Tucceri-Cimini [2010] ATMO 24.) If the proceeding is dismissed the Registrar will notify the parties of the dismissal as per regs 5.20, 9.22, 17A.35 and 17A.48Y.
It is common in court proceedings for the court to accept a guarantee by a third party to accept responsibility for the costs in question. However, enforcement of such a guarantee may be burdensome for a successful party and, given that scale costs are only a very small part of actual costs, the Registrar would not normally accept the giving of a guarantee as an alternative to requiring payment of security unless the guarantee was also acceptable to the party requesting security.
7.2 Letter requiring security for costs
The Registrar advises the party required to provide security for costs by means of a letter which also advises that the money will be held until the end of the proceedings.
The information is usually expressed as follows:
The opponent/applicant for removal, nnnnnn shall give security for costs being the sum of $****, within two months from the date of this letter. In the event that the opponent/applicant for removal fails to provide the sum of $**** in a manner acceptable to the Registrar and within the time of two months as allowed, the opposition may be dismissed by the Registrar as section 222 of the Act provides.