Idag ägnades mesta delen av dagen åt måleri, strykning nr 2, både det vita och det blå. Bin och sommarflugor surrade, syrenen doftade, fåglar sjöng. Det är inte alls så tokigt att stå ute och måla. Samtidigt ger jag plats åt tankarna. Finna sig själv. Planera för ansökningarna till Kulturrådet. Då går det undan när man sedan sätter sig och skriver.
Här är lägesrapport med målningen. Det är så skönt att arbeta med något där man ser så snabba resultat.
Så vill jag tipsa om en blogg jag såg idag. Min alexanderteknik-lärare Barbro skriver här:
http://alexanderteknik.blogspot.com
I Falun i helgen såg vi en fågelunge som just flugit ur boet. Den gjorde sig osynlig för oss i gräset.
Mattias Pèrez och jag förbereder oss för vår konsert i Ransäter. Jag har en fantastisk kampsång som jag gärna skulle plocka in i låtlistan. Hazel Dickens sjöng den, jag gillar den för många olika orsaker, men just nu för att den uppmuntrar oss att stå upp för vad vi tror på. Det känns viktigt att göra nu när det är högaktuellt med Ship to Gaza.
Här är hela historien om Jock Yablonski för den som har specialintresse av kolgruvor och facklig aktivism. Jag har funnit denna text på en hemsida (http://www.appalachiacoal.com/yablonski%20murder.htm) och hoppas de tycker att det är ok att sprida budskapet.
About forty years ago on a Monday morning in the quiet town of Clarksville, Pennsylvania, Joseph "Jock" Yablonski was found by his son slumped in an odd kneeling, collapsed position, head resting against an end table, dead; 5 bullets had been pumped into him. His wife, Margaret and their 25 year old daughter, Charlotte, had also been shot with 2 bullets each and left to die in adjoining bedrooms. Mining activist, Yablonski was viewed as a serious threat to incumbent United Miner Workers President Tony Boyle and a pre-planned effort to eliminate the challenge resulted in the untimely deaths of Joseph Yablonski, his wife and daughter.
The events leading up to the "murder-for-hire" scheme were directly related to the United Mine Workers Union (the powerful Presidential Position) and the Appalachia coal fields. According to reports, John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers Union from 1920-1960 was idolized by miners and their families. Lewis was ranked somewhere near Moses historically and as holy as the Catholic Church. It was an ordinary sight for miners to display on walls in their homes the picture of John L. Lewis right beside the Saints. The Office of the President of the United Mine Workers of America was very powerful with strong political connections.
Yablonski's history of almost 40 years associated with coal mining began as a boy in the coal fields. As a result of his concern for the miners, he became involved in mining politics, best known for his organizational efforts in the Appalachian highlands. Following elections to key positions in the UMW, Yablonski often contemplated whether he would some day become one of UMW's elite Presidents. In 1960, John L. Lewis retired; however, Vice President Thomas Kennedy succeeded in that position with Tony Boyle appointed to the Vice President's Chair by Lewis. Suffering from ill health, Kennedy died on January 19, 1963 which automatically promoted Boyle into the office of the President.
Jock Yablonski, continued to rise in the ranks as an activist. He was described as a gritty, straightforward miner in stark contrast to Tony Boyle who dressed in conservative suits, was short, cautious and usually averted eye contact. Boyle was prone to backing up verbal statements with mounds of documents. The conflict between Yablonski and Boyle began when President Boyle insisted on promoting his ideology of not disturbing the labor peace. At the same time Boyle was empowering his own position as President by making the union's 24 districts trusteeships; therefore, taking away their voting rights, as well as giving his supporters, the pensioners, full voting rights.
Following a volatile UMW annual convention held in Bal Harbor, Florida in 1964, the conflict mounted and was coming to a head early in 1965 when Yablonski convinced three powerful State Pennsylvania Senators to broaden an amendment to include miners in the soft-coal field suffering from pneumoconiosis (black lung) to receive compensation as well as those working in the anthracite (hard-coal) industry. (The original Bill only covered hard-coal miners who were less susceptible to the condition). The Governor of Pennsylvania, Scranton, backed the bill and on October 8 signed it into law. Boyle treated this event as insubordination from Yablonski and removed him as president of District 5.
The fatal blow came the foggy, hazy morning of November 20, 1968 in Farmington, WV when Consolidation Coal #9 blew due to a change in temperature resulting in a methane explosion that left 78 coal miners underground to die following a total of 16 explosions. Boyle's impersonal behavior at the site and his praise of Consolidation Coal Company enraged Yablonski and through the combined efforts of consumer advocate Ralph Nader and Congressman Ken Hechler of WV, Yablonski announced his candidacy for Presidency of the UMW on May 29, 1969. Boyle viewed this as a serious threat to his powerful position and devised a "murder-for-hire" scheme to eradicate the opposition.
Hit men, Aubran "Buddy" Martin, Paul Gilly and Claude Vealey were all convicted shortly after the gruesome murder but it took nearly 5 years to connect the murder to the source, Tony Boyle. In April, 1974 justice was served when 1st degree murder charges were handed down to Tony Boyle for the "murder-for-hire" scheme of Joseph Yablonski, Margaret Yablonski and Charlotte Yablonski. Tony Boyle received a life sentence and died in prison.
