A small selection of banners and flags from the various groups and unions taking part, including Disability Groups and the Royal College of Midwives protesting the cuts to maternity care in UK hospitals;
Tag: equality
The Day We Marched – London – 20.10.12
‘We marched with the Socialists and the Communists, the Teachers and the Firemen, the Musicians and the Railway Workers, the Green Party and the foreign students – we all marched together as equals in our humanity. The march was peaceful, good natured and attended by hundreds of thousands of people! The Conservative Mayor of London – Boris Johnson – ensured a very heavy Police presence, but unlike the Student Demonstration, we were not kettle-drummed or baton charged, although there were plenty of batons in clear view. The Police were dressed in riot over-alls and military style boots, obviously prepared for a riot – but despite the numbers, no riot materialised.’
Jhana: The Buddhist Search For Focused Equanimity.
‘The physical material of the universal itself is not necessarily morally corrupt as it exists, but rather is made so by a mind projecting a distorted meaning onto, and into it. However, as the karmic fruits of an individual actually ‘pull’ a physical world into place, even morally inert matter is designed, through circumstance, to create experiences relevant to the karmic root actions themselves. Early Buddhism envisages 31 such states of existence that are only transcended through the experience of enlightenment at the point of the death of the last karmically inspired physical existence. Until that time, the mind appears to ‘burn’ with sensation and obsessive thought patterns that inspire actions that inevitably lead to further effects. This mechanism that sees the mind fabric intimately entwined with the physical world, has to be prevent from functioning in an unquestioned manner. The power of habit moves in one perpetuating direction, as like a piece of metal drawn to a strong magnet. Habitual tendencies appear ‘normal’ because they are familiar. Delusion is a comfortable state that ‘hurts’ those residing within it. The pain of delusion is never associated with the ‘delusion’ itself. The human will (cetana) is the Buddha’s key to suffering and its over-coming.’
Marxian Spirituality & Equality.
‘It is not surprising that both Capitalism and Communism are material philosophies – that is systems of social organisation that advocate a pragmatic view of the world, generally free of idealism. They are, of course, intimately related, as the latter is viewed as the solution to the inequalities and greed of the former. From a Marxist perspective, a Communist society can only grow out of a Capitalist society, as wealth is actually needed to re-distribute to all people. Marx believed that Great Britain was the only country in his time that could be Communist, because of its tremendous wealth and imperial power.’
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 