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LETTERS FROM Click
here for the letters in Danish |
| Drawing by Annisette 1983 | ANNISETTES & THOMAS' BREVE PÅ DANSK - HER |
Denmark, Where Are You?
A Story Of Longing
by Thomas Koppel
February 8, 2006
HERE'S THE FIRST PART (PART 2 To follow)
As we're working very hard please bear with spelling errors and questionable grammar
...... your corrections will be welcomed......
For more on this subject go HERE
Danish original HERE
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We could have saved ourselves all those many millions for the H.C. Andersen year, because here the real "culture canon" has arrived.
[the Danish govt. just launched its "Culture Cannon" to "canonize" the finest of all times in Danish culture. Savage Rose's first album was selected as no 3 for popular music, but Savage Rose declined because of the involvement of the Danish government in the Iraq war]
The danish neocon movement from prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to the so-called Dansk Folkeparti and Jyllandsposten‚ (major Danish right-wing newspaper) have all over the planet turned us into a nation without any kind of culture.
The fierce global, popular protests are not only against a couple of drawings and not at all against our freedom of speech. They originate in anger and despair accumulated over decades over the growing persecution of Muslims in many countries, with Denmark unfortunately notourious as a front runner; and over a genocide on Arab peoples killing close to two million men, women and especially children since 1991; and an "Ausradierung" of several sovereign nations. The Danish government and a considerable section of the parliament are actively responsible.
Jyllandsposten‚, Dansk Folkeparti and Anders Fogh Rasmussen have directed this huge anger towards Denmark.
Some Arab regimes and groups closely linked to the US government (e. g. Lebanon, Saudi Arabia), have out of their own reasons put gasoline on the fire - and thereby distracted the protest from the more dangerous USA and Israel.
Art, Lies and Reality
Why does a children's book really have to be blasphemic, kicking the holiest in a religion?
A drawing is smear campaigning, when it is ascribing to a whole people negative features, that aren't true or typical. The "Muslim" with the scimitar definitely does not look like the one, who in our Souith Harbor neighborhood of Copenhagen is selling milk and toilet tissue to tired people with bags under their eyes at 1 am.
Behind the man with the scimitar, two covered women in the despised Burkas have eyes filled with fear. But many of the Arab nations actually didn't have neither Burkas or stonings, but progressive, democratic governments - until the intelligence services of the US, UK and Israel had them brought down and killed. Prime minister Fogh's Allies in London and Washington instead organized and trained regimes like the Taliban, Saddam Hussein, and Osama Bin Laden.
Even in Saddam Husseins Iraq, with his persecution of communists and other opposition, women had no need to cover themselves up, and 50% of the students in Iraqi univercities, that did not stand back for the western world, were women.
The Frankenstein Iraq, Anders Fogh and his friends can't make stick, is now threatening to bring back opression of women and stonings.
Not the Arab peoples but the Western superpowers are working to keep the Arabic world stuck in Medieval leftovers.
Who are the agressors?
It is our government that has heavily armed troops in Iraq - not the other way around.
It is our government tha authors inhumane immigrant laws, that already before Jyllandsposten's caricatures have made Denmark despised all around the world.
It is our government, that has cooperated with the CIA about torture flights through Denmark.
It is our allies, that builds concentration camps where people of Arab nationality are being tortured and are rottening without a trial.
It is our allies that have turned Iraq, our culture's cradle, into a gigantic nuclear waste junkyard, where more than 50% of the new cancer cases are children under 5 years old.
These incredibly ignorant people of power simply don't understand, that what they do to other people at the end of the day they're doing to themselves. Holocaust
We might not think anyone is noticing this little nation, Denmark, out there in the world. But people around us are following what is happening in Denmark more closely than many Danes themselves. They've heard about Dansk Folkeparti's Louise Frevert's remark that "Muslims are a cancer on the Danish society...." They also know very well that "Reverend" Jesper Langballe in the Danish parliament called Islam a "plague over Europe"..... excactly what Hitler's Der Sturmer called the Jews before the Chrystal Night and its murderous raids on Jews November 9th 1938.
People of Islamic faith are no more dumb than everyone else. They know that all signs of a coming Holocaust against Muslims are present. In Denmark, around Europe, in Washington and London. In the Middle East it started a long time ago.
Mr. Cartoonist, can you imagine the pain? To stand on top of the ruins of your home, in the ruins of your town? A dirty teddy bear, that reminds you of your little girl, your whole family,that's no longer there? No water, no sewer, no work, and only a couple of hours of electricity every day? A „rebuilding of Iraq", that now has ended up in Mr. Bush saying that " the Iraqis will have to take care of this themselves..."- after Dick Cheney's Halliburton and others took care of the budgets........
There you are standing, and all of a sudden you see a drawing, done by someone in a distant country. It is obviously supposed to look like you, but with a crooked nose, scimitar, and a couple of oppressed women that fear you. That is, amidst your sorrow and misery, the picture of you some distant artist far away is giving the world...
Of all these reasons, Mr cartoonist, your drawing is not revealing, but obscuring.
Actually, it's a lie. It is our government, that comes to them with swords, not the other way around.
Is the victim supposed to honor to the executioner's "free speech"? Should my father's beautiful aunt Anna and the 28 other persons from my father's family, who died in Nazi concentration camps, politely have said "To Hitler's right to lie..." when they stepped into the chamber of death?
Reconciliation, Fundamentalists and Reality Show
Now the prime minister is advocating reconciliation. But only because our export companies are angry; and there's even talk about boycot of the ship owners. Even Danish Mærsk, with their bloody war profits, are worried.....
But - with the other side of his tongue - Fogh speaks of "violent fundamentalists who are taking advantage of the situation". He's actually got some in his own little neocon chicken farm. "Dansk Folkeparti"'s Søren Krarup has explained to the parliament, that the war in Iraq "is the ultimate Christian war on Islam". And Ayatollah Krarup is strutting like a rooster, and his crusaders keep ravaging around Basra, armed to their teeth.
The Prime minister had no objections to Krarup's "militant fundamentalism" and also hasn't had much luck with his double-tongued "reconciliation".
It is interesting to think about, that Osama (in harmony with Bushs conspiracy theory regarding 9/11) in a few minutes was "judged" as the main enemy in the so-called "War On Terror". Nevertheless, both Bush, Blair and Fogh have for some peculiar reason been completely uninterested in catching him or anything else ever since. Osama only pops up as a little signal bell on the tv screen each time Bush is up for "election" or making a speech to the nation and needs us to be a little scared.
Hundred thousands of innocent have become "collateral damage" in this "War On Terror; but in almost five years this "War" hasn't produced one single indicted and convicted terrorist. Not one.
The "War On Terror" is unmistakebly one big theatrical show, written and directed by the biggest author of fiction since world war 2: the CIA.
Fogh was being had
Fogh was obviously bewildered left alone in front of the wolves by the same CIA, when the storm broke loose last week. He and "Dansk Folkeparti"'s Pia Kjærsgård were so certain Bush was going to come save them; but besides a little pocket change for the Danish export companies there was no solidarity from Big Brother. No, that is not how the piano plays in the professional mafia.
Bush took without blinking all his trump cards home. He critizised Jyllandsposten‚ (but has since then put in some counterweight), took the role as Islam's rescuer, and left Fogh with his shoulders down and cold sweat in front of the wild crowds.
Bush, on the other hand, could relax while following the anti-Muslim witch-hunt spread like birdflu across Europe - a perfect, destructive preparation for the next suicidal nocon war adventure: the Israeli-American attack on Iran and Syria.
As Iraq became a little more complicated than expected, and Iran a little stronger than expected, they're actually now years behind their plan, but are believed to be aiming at the end of March as the right time for the attack on Iran and the beginning of World War 3.
The Real Intentions
And then here we are at the root of the matter.
As Jyllandspostens‚ chief cultural editor, the PR man of the US neocons in Denmark, Flemming Rose, tells the New herald Tribune, this charicature isue is about far more than a couple of drawings. Rose says - just like Donald Rumsfeld and the neocon kingpin Daniel Pipes this is the "Clash of Civilizations". That's neocon code for the annexation of the Middle East. A vast US nuclear waste junkyard with oilpipes and military bases with ten layers of barbed wire around it. The "Endlösung" for the Palestinian people. An endless West Bank.
And it doesn't even stop there. All nations including Denmark are going to get a sweep with the tar brush, and this isn't "in a few years". The Bush globalisation's black future has already begun. In the last couple of weeks
Denmark had a little taste of how it feels to be a manipulated colony.
Hundreds of millions of other people know all about that already.
The Arabic peoples, which Fogh is struggling to "calm down", already knows the ideas of "Project For A New American Century", as the US guys behind Flemming Rose are calling it. They know the paranoid
"Empire" won't even feel safe when it has its iron hand on each and every person on the planet.
Colossus on the feet of clay
The Iraqis have showed us something really important: the Empire is a colossus on feet of clay. While many Danes were busy with low-interest loans, the Iraqi's dented rifles halted the US Project World Supremacy - at least for a couple of years.
Include them in your prayers. They are protecting us too. They are all your daily gift.
But the Monster, The Empire, can only destroy. Fear has become the only thing, this ailing, late capitalism has to offer. There's nothing left to believe in. A growing number of US troops no longer believe in what they are doing. No wonder: More than 500,000 US soldiers are deadly ill from the nuclear radiation of Bush Sr's Gulf war 1991 - and Clinton's Cosovo war. The same has already started repeating with the troops of the present Iraq war. Depleated uranium is not quite that depleated anyway. It has a halflife of 4.5 billion years.
The Empire is corrupt, insane, indebted, hated. Fear has become its trademark. And we around the world we have seen, how most Danish media without any questions passed on the CIA - psychologist's synthetic psychoses on to the (partly) unsuspecting Danish population.
The american population are overwhelmingly against their own government, and there's now a majority for impeachment of Bush and other government officials. „The Alternative", the Democratic Party, has - with its conspicuous nightmarish slackness eventually become the only barrier against Bush's sudden departure, but might certainly get pushed aside by the popular demand.
Another superpower is about to implode, and is acting like a cornered beast.
Fogh and Co, as it has been felt for a couple of weeks now, make it a sure thing that Denmark effectively will be pulled down with them.
More about freedom of speech
Let me add a few words on Jyllandsposten's holy cause - freedom of speech.
Neither the newspaper nor Anders Fogh have ever worried about freedom of speech before, and have done all they could to take it away. We don't have freedom of speech in Denmark anymore, unless we're prepared to take the risk to get treated like a "terrorist". The Danish "terror Law" is a constitution-breaking hoax, that hasn't brought any terrorists out into the light, but has instead been used against freedom of speech (remember Greenpeace and "Foreningen oprør").
Freedom of speech, oh noble Jyllandposten..... Jyllandsposten has a great history of humanism, like e.g. the editorial after Hitlers excesses against the German jews in the Chrystal Night 1938:
"You have to admit Germany its clear right to rid itself of its Jews. But one must insist that it happens in a decent manner."
Laissez-Faire
If we don't do anything, there will be new pwesecutions in Denmark and throughout Europe. It won't be pretty. And as in Hitler's Germany, it's not going to be just the Muslims. The European Union January 27th passed a resolution equalling communism and nazism. An attempt to obligate the member countries to act against socialists and other progressives didn't pass, but the intentions are not to be mistaken and it is now up to each member country if and how they will go after socialists and others.
First they came for the communists,
and I did not speak out
--because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists,
and I did not speak out
--because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak out
--because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me --
but there was no one left to speak out for me.
(Pastor Martin Niemöller, active in the German resistance against nazism, prisoner in the concentration camp Sachenhausen 1945.
What has to be done
Dear friends, we can no longer pretend nothing is happening. We must show the world and ourselves respect. Life is too beautiful to mess up because of a little bunch of gangsters that don't know how to appreciate it.
We can't wait for the Social Democratic Party to do it for us. Like most Democrats in the US, most of the Social Democratic caucus voted for the war and its crimes, including for the latest expansions and extensions.
We can't shape our demands, wishes and dreams around the practical political possibilities in the parliament without censoring ourselves, because the parliament doesn't represent the people: The majority of the Danish people is against the war, but not the parliament. We must raise our demands and wishes as they are - and create the organism that can turn them into reality. A strong new grassroots movement, not only about the war but including all the horrible problems plaguing the population regardless of color of the skin, religion, or gender. This might open uop to a whole new popular inspiration, joy and creativity - break the evil circle of fear and turn Denmark into an alive, active, independent organism which could inspire other peoples, awaken new ideas and optimism and not like now: disgust.
I suggest, that we immediately, raise these demands:
1. The Fogh government must step down.
It has done enough harm. We and the world outside can't wait for the next ordinary election. It is a question of rebuilding our identity and be true to our democratic, open, friendly and wise tradition.
2. The Danish troops in Iraq and Afghanistan must be brought home now.
The war is a crime in defiance of UN's decisions and thereby in defiance of the Danish constitution. This comprehensive war crime is the framework around innumerable other war crimes - meaningless murders, torture, destruction and assaults on the population and its necessary installations and institutions. They are also in defiance of the Nuremberg treaty and all international human rights and war crime tribunals. After our experiences under the German occupation, this is beneath our dignity.
3. There has to be initiated a thorough independant investigation of the Fogh government's premises to pull Denmark into the war, and another investigation of the government's relationship with Bush's secret concentration camps and torture flights through Denmark.
4.The xenophobic laws have to be cancelled and replaced by others in tune with Danish democratic and humanist tradition. Racism, xenophobia and persecution does not belong anywhere.
These laws are more unknown to many Danes than they are to many in other contries. Well before Jyllandsposten's suicide bomb Hans Christian Andersen's mother country had already become an object for despise as a racist and xenophobic country. Besides, racism and hate destroy also any nation or group practicing them - and make the soul decompose.
5. The terror laws (Danish "Patriot Act") must be cancelled including the attcks on freedom of speech.
These laws are unconstitutional; they are totally against Danish democratic tradition and culture - they destroy fundamental human rights and civil rights without contributing the least to reducing terrorism - on the contrary.
6. Budgets for illegal wars and illegal weapons must be moved to education and creating workplaces . After the wars comes exploitation of underpaid work and slavery. This kind of abuse must be stopped whereever it is.
A man from the Danish governemnt party, Venstre, told me that we could close down all of Denmark's farming, because a single big farm in Ukraine could handle it all for a fraction of the price. But a Denmark without production is a sick, weak, dependant nation. No low-interest loans can replace production more than just a couple of years at the most, then the bill has to be payed. With what?
7. There has to be a thorough, informative, popular debate regarding Denmarks membership of EU.
It is crucial that this debate comes up as a real, lively, popular debate. We are becoming an incapable pawn in a big game of military, superpower illusions, oil wars, fascisation of the community and working conditions, andpoisoning of our food and destruction of our climate and our environment.
How should it be done?
All these are questions we can discuss by organizing meetings at work, in the unions, with your neighbors, the village, school - in media and everywhere (Jyllandsposten‚ e. g., has freedom of speech... )
What about a new independent popular movement, who can represent the popular demands without tactical parliamentary restrictions - thereby bringing the true, popular demands into the Danish reality in a strong and organized way, including in the parliament?
This is a suggestion from a regular composer of Danish popular tradition - from beautiful medieval folk songs to Buxtehude, from Blicher and H.C. Andersen to Jeppe Aakjær, Martin Andersen Nexø and Carl Nielsen; from Tove Ditlevsen to Erik Stinus. And at the same time - of global tradition, from Sappho to Neruda, Mikis Theodorakis, Nazim Hikmet, Mahmoud Darwish, Marvin Gaye, Harry Belafonte, Miriam Makeba..... Life is full of beauty. The horrifying and ugly doesn't have to be there. Now is the best time ever to wake up and take the initiative for the sake of our children's future.
Think how things could actually be....
This great change is not something we fight for for years - to see nothing will come out of it anyway. The change begins, in the same instance we make our decision. Freedom is in the process itself - when we realize we can do things on our own. Forget about watching tv tonight and talk to someone about what you can do.
What we need from ourselves is: that we preserve our respect for ourselves,
respect for others - regardless of skin color and beliefs; that we hold on to love, solidarity, the dream, the poetry, the humor, the beauty, the big heart, the open mind, the common sense. It is all old virtues - becoming new and fine when used. All of it uniting real popular Danish culture with all other peoples' cultures on this earth. When we dig deep down underneath greed and lies, the dreams, the tears and laughter the same all over the world. All the thousands of wonderful flowers, that make the culture of this planet, come out of one single root that all people understand.
That's the longing for freedom.
January 8 2006
Annisette's
New Year's Letter 2006
Danish version HERE
Snow is covering the branches of the trees and the fragile roofing felt - on the little cottages in the outskirts of the big city. The light blue and pink stripes of the sky make you want to take a walk in the forest with sledge and kids.
Here comes a pack of South harbor kids on ponies and horses - happy new year! - stop under the sleeping apple tree in the yard ... full of smiles, stories, songs and dreams ... gifts of life and soul ....... Just like - far away from the cold North - in the mountains of the little jungle island of mango, coconut, proud swinging music and people ... full of smiles, stories, songs and dreams ...
... Like when we followed the whales across the polar ocean up towards the beginning of Mother Earth. And the Greenlandic women were singing like the waves, and we were playing and dancing on the little ship between the icebergs, men and wives and children, full of smiles, stories, songs and dreams ...
... Like the touring from stage to stage of iron frames and wooden floors with wild flowers - and a heart of ten thousand people, beating inside the music. With faces full of smiles,c stories, songs and dreams ...
... Like brothers and sisters out there - out there where walls of concrete and bombs and napalm and prisons and torture are there to stop their smiles, stories, songs, and dreams ....
And the Earth cracks open, and mountains are on fire
And the sky turns off its light,
And the ocean is being whipped
And rolls over cities,
While the generals of Death are pointing at you ...
And like a bird without wings became the world ...
And the song I'm hearing crushes my heart ...
And the story I see bleeds to death ...
And I run through the jungle,
Through the burning mountains,
Through frozen wasteland and streets.
And all the stars of night are following me.
And the moon is sailing with the dreams that whisper:
"Now it's you! Now you're the time!
Now it's you! Now you're the time!"
The Soul Thieves, rapaceous,
Have mouths full of lies ...
Spread only death ... have nothing to give!
No reality reaches their eyes!
Come now! Come now! Daughter of the Earth!
Sing now, sing with life and soul ...
The snow is covering the arms of the trees;
dripping and sparkling off the fragile roof.
The Morning sun knocks at the window pane.
Come now! Come now! Daughter of the Earth!
Are you ready?
Listen now, listen now
It's life or death
It's now! Now is the time!
________________________________
September 2005
____________________________________
September 28 , 2005
Puerto Rican Trunpet player And Hero of Independence
Assassinated by the FBI
Annisette & Thomas today sent us this message:
"While still in Denmark, today we learned about the FBI assassination of 72 year old musician and fighter for Puerto Rican independence, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico. This is another disgusting crime by the U. S. government, a true act of terrorism which has triggered strong protests from the whole world. The 25 FBI troops fired more than a hundred shots before Filiberto put on his boots and fought back to defend his family. He was hit in the throat, fell, and bled to death while the FBI prevented doctors, lawyers and others to enter the house for almost 24 hours. A despicable provocation against the whole of the Puerto Rican nation and all nations, including the American people who never authorized its self'made 'government' to hurt anyone in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Haiti, Iraq or Afghanistan.
Filiberto was the leader of the Macheteros (Sugarcane Cutters) independantist movement and was, decades ago, acqitted for participating in a bank robbery intended to support the movement, by a Puerto Rican jury deciding he was acting in selv-defense against a colonial oppressor. The FBI, however, kept him on their Most Wanted list and called him a 'terrorist'.
Now it is obvious to the whole world who really is the 'terrorist'.
They might want to provocate the progressive movement of Puerto Rico in order to create chaos and unrest, and a pretext to clamp down on the whole nation at a later time. Or they just have no idea what they're doing. It doesn't matter. They let Filiberto Ojeda bleed to death, just like they let New Orleans, Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq bleed to death.
We have been privileged with being the guests of the Puerto Rican people since March 5this year - in the very same Naguabo area where Filiberto started out as a young, brilliant trompet and guitar player of the famous La Sonora Ponceños orchestra. Today we feel like Puerto Ricans being a long way from home. Demonstrations, protests everywhere in Puerto Rico from the blocked freeways to the Governor's office against this colonial style contempt for the Puerto Rican people.
Chased by the FBI, that for decades offered a $500,000 reward for information on Filiberto's whereabouts, he lived undercover in the West Puerto Rican mountains - called "the Rose Gardener" by his neighbors. From his blood today a million new red roses will grow for a free and independent Puerto Rico."
THE LEAVES WHISPER
A STORM'S GONNA RISE
LET IT COME LET IT BLOW AWAY
THE HATE THE LIES THE CRIME
AWAKEN AWAKEN
THE MORNING YOUNG & NEW
MANCHILD
WITH YOU
FOR YOUR LOVE
FOR YOUR LOVE
_________
From FOR YOUR LOVE (POR TU AMOR)
By Annisette & Thomas Koppel
________________________________________________________________________
July 5 , 2005
On Bush's Visit To Denmark
Excerpts of interview with Annisette & Thomas in major Danish daily Ekstrabladet, July 5 2005
Today's Ekstrabladet (major Danish daily) has a big interview with Annisette & Thomas about Bush's visit to Denmark.
Among other things they say:
"The demonstrators tomorrow are defending the honor of the Danish people. Only 13% of Danes now trust Bush; the Danish prime minister doesn't even have the support of the majority of his own party for his obedience to Bush..... So tomorrow's demonstration represents the huge majority of the Danish people.
"This isn't just about politics, this is about crime. The Iraq war is a crime against the US as well as the Danish constitutions and all international charters. Bush, Blair and the whole gang should be brought before a trial, and that might actually happen.....
"Besides the Iraqi and Afghanistani peoples, hundreds of thousands of Americans already suffer the consequences of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; their loved ones killed, maimed, or suffering mental damge for life. Ten million US children go to bed hungry every day.....
"The vision of the Bush Boys is globalization as we have seen it in the so-called free-trade zones in the Philippines where young girls live like slaves....that's how they try to shape the whole world.....
"...Behind Bush sits a team you might call the mafia boys, like Dick Cheney and the leaders of enterprises like Enron and Halliburton - and even Danish Mærsk (A. P. Møller) that freighted the US army to Iraq. They're relentles when it is about money....."
May 1, 2005
May Day 2005
Greeting from Annisette & Thomas May 1, 2005
På dansk HER
Annisette & Thomas sends this message on The First Of May 2005:
This day, the workers' day, the day for socialism and change, brings so many memories.... and it brings so much joy and hope. It brings us so close to all our friends around this planet, in Denmark, Los Angeles, New York, Manila, Nuuk of Greenland, Palestine........ all the unique and wonderful nations that fill up the planet and our hearts. We are all one huge human longing for social justice, true popular culture, and peace.
True music is the breath of the people, as we have always found the magic of music in the hope and power of the suffering workers and the people, anywhere, anytime. Freedom is the language of true art.
To the benefit of all mankind, popular resistance, with vision, courage and love, has halted the world's most pervertedly enormous military/financial machines; the "Empire"is in deep trouble in Iraq, Palestine, in Latin America, Asia, everywhere. The cannons, the dollars are killing in vain. The beast is cornered, although dangerous like never befiore. Fewer and fewer are letting themselves become brainwashed. The heart of poor workers, the heart of the people, shines through, impossible to hide. If you close your eeyes - there's the music.
We'll celebrate this day in Loîza, Puerto Rico, a magic place of great power and history, the old home of rebellious African slaves, as revealed by theexplosive Bomba music. We'll bring our voice, accordion and love.
Our love to every little teenage sweatshop worker toiling in the "Free Trade Zone" slave camps; our love to the resistance fighters of Iraq that have delayed the gangsters' demolition of who knows how many other nations so far..... "they're all your daily gift"! To the people of Venezuela, Cuba and Latin America, that bring so much hope to so many this spring; and the millions that gather in May Day rallies all over the world today; you're all the hope of other millions .... to every teller lady in Los Angeles, Copenhagen, everywhere .... a new May Day for love, change, revolution, a never-ending song of freedom!
We can't wait until we - very soon - shall meet our friends and audience in Denmark.... and together with you make the music glow and celebrate the sprouting spring....
April 19, 2005
NHØP
May 27 1946 - April 19, 2005
MESSAGE FROM ANNISETTE & THOMAS
It's hard to believe.
Our old friend and co-musician, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, better known as NHØP, has passed away - way too early.
A wonderful, shining man, admired all over the planet for his sublime bass playing and musicianship, recording and touring with a. o. Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Michel Petrucciani, Kenny Drew, Ben Webster, Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Bud Powell; - at the same time the gentlest, most modest, warm and generous person you can imagine.
Likewise - his legacyis not only the front end of modern jazz. He did memorable classical performances, and also beautiful renditions of Scandinavian folklore, that are in themselves modern classics now.
We played with Niels-Henning in the dramatic and inspired era following our album Babylon - at the old, original, legendary Copenhagen jazz club Montmartre, together with the late Ben Webster, Alex Riel, and Anders [Thomas' brother], and other jazz venues around Scandinavia. You can hear Niels-Henning's warm and singing bass, carrying Annisette, who had just given birth to Billie, and and the band along like in a big, safe and gentle hand, in the original version of What Do You Do Now on that same album. Few, but great, people listened to that album when it was released; now the album is a legend in itself and Niels Henning is very much part of that legend.
Niels-Henning, we'll miss you. But your soul and brilliance is woven into the stream of music around the planet ; you'll live on, and your bass will sing for decades to come. Thank you for your generosity and humanity.
Annisette & Thomas
January 1, 2005
New Year Message From Annisette & Thomas.
This is New Year’s morning, 3:30 AM ... in Copenhagen, Denmark.
At this very moment millions of poor people are shivering, crying, their
hearts exploding with sorrow, fear; searching wrecked, ill-smelling beaches
for their loved ones, for whatever is left of their homes, fishing tools;
they’re wounded, hungry, have nothing to drink but black water of death.
No song can ever express the compassion and love we feel for the Indonesian
woman crying over her dead baby, or the young Swedish girl that lost her
boyfriend and now couldn’t imagine living herself.
The water is innocent. The Earth is innocent.
But not everyone is innocent.
Less than $500,000 could have secured an efficient tsunami warning system.
A half million dollars.
This should be compared to the $1,500,000,000 the U.S. spends every day to fund the Pentagon war machine.
George Bush spends $270,000,000 each and every day for the illegal occupation of Iraq.
He initially presented an “Aid Package” of $15 million in aid to the more than 5 million victims of the recent tsunami.
Denmark, a nation of 5 million people, decided to spend $ 55 million. Not that it's a huge sacrifice, even to a tiny nation, but it is almost four times as much as the U. S. A. Danes are contributing another several million in private donations. Small bills.
But Bush presented his $15 million. Faced with the contempt of the world for
this disgraceful message, Bush reluctantly changed the amount into $35 million. A little more than half of Denmark.
He plans to spend $40 million in the next few weeks to host his election
gala parties and the inaugural parade. A lot of the money goes to prevent the American people from getting even close to the parade. This "president' has no reason to trust his own people.
Denmark is still a part of the U. S. occupation of Iraq, although the war
and occupation is exactly the kind of criminal assault, several Nazi leaders
were executed for by the Nuremberg Tribunal. The Nuremberg Tribunal is perhaps the most important foundation for international law of war and is till this day undersigned by –
among others – the U. S. A. and Denmark. Around the big leaders a
very unreliable system of media, corporations et cetera works 24 hours a day to keep
us – the people – from interfering in their business. They don't need our opinion, they need us as
pawns, tools, cannon fodder. And they need us to believe that this
system could never be changed.
But it can. The superpowers are weaker than
ever in history. They can kill, like the U. S. has been killing in Iraq,
Afghanistan, or Haiti. But killing people won’t make anybody love you, and so the
U. S. is suffering from an extreme lack of love at this time in history.
Can we accept that global priority is being given to illegal wars and
occupations like those of Iraq, Afghanistan, or Palestine? And not to feed
the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, medicine to the sick, and helping each other as fellow human beings?
There are other so-called “natural disasters” happening. In Africa, soon 100
million people will be HIV positive.
For all the money spent on the criminal assault on Iraq, the world could
easily have had sufficient medicine to stop the viral genocide on Africa,
prevented 5 million people from becoming victims of a tsunami, could have fed the more than ten million children in the U. S. A. that go to bed
hungry every day (yes, in the U. S. A.) ......and so on and so on. What's happening is nonsense.
We just have to stop this nonsense. Criminal people are leading the planet
directly into the abyss, and with tremendous speed.
We need a new system, based on real people, common sense, and science serving the people, not the war machines.
We need no more lies; we want this planet saved, and we need the truth. The
world doesn’t need any more arrogance or contempt, the world needs love –
and the only superpower that still has truth and love to give, is the people.
The planet needs us to start moving. That's where the songs begin.
Happy New year to everybody.
January 11 2004
Greeting from The Savage Rose to the one year Anniversary of the Save Leimert Park, Save Black Culture Rally!
| Leimert Park
is a pounding heart in Los Angeles, and Artists For Justice &
Liberation is a pounding heart in Leimert Park. We're just happy we
found you. All around us all, America is falling apart in greed and violence. They intrude in our minds too. The ruling culture is the culture of the ruling class. The only way to de-tangle yourself from its tentacles is by creative resistance. To be able to resist we all need a dream of a better way. 35 years ago we found it while working with Huey P. Newton in Europe. Even before that, we saw the power of the people when as teenagers, at the Newport Jazz Festival, we had the honor of sharing the stage with Sly & The Family Stone, James Brown, Miles Davis. And what an audience. |
 Artists For Justice And Liberation Give Kids A Leimert Park Tour photo: AJL |
The true dream of freedom lives inside of us. We found it in Leimert Park too among all you wonderful people who carry the torch.
Thank you for staying awake in a darkness where most people are still asleep. Thank you for educating the young people and passing the dream on to them. And we promise you: The Savage Rose will always among the Messengers From Misery Land, confronting evil and greed with songs of life and beauty.
Love, power to the people!
We'll see you all soon!
Annisette & Thomas
The Savage Rose
October 12 2003
To the striking workers of the UFCW!
By Annisette & Thomas
We thank you for your courageous decision to stand up against the war some corporations are waging against you, your rights. Your struggle is not only for yourself, but for future generations and for all working people of the planet.
Your struggle is part of the struggle all US workers, progressive artists, and more, are fighting against corporate America that has hi-jacked the nation in a train-ride towards the abyss.
The wars on Iraq and Afghanistan are a pretext to rob the American people and the peoples of the world. The corporations, however, don't yet need the army or the World Bank to thirdworldize and bring misery to the people of the United States. Already 30 million Americans are, according to official statistics, 'hungry'. Other statistics prove that one million US children are suffering under extreme poverty, sharing an income of less than $ 7,000 a year with two other human beings. And just a few days ago 'Freedom March 2003' spoke the unspeakable truth about the plight of millions of un-registered immigrants.
We are heartened by the decision of other workers to support your picket lines. Also we're happy to hear that many store customers show solidarity.
The corporations say that they have to compete against corporations like Wal-Mart, where 'union' is a four letter word. Well, it's easy to see why the ruthless exploitation of Wal-Mart workers could be a role-model: family Walton, including heiress Alice Walton, brothers Robson, John and Jim, and mother Helen, now own $ 85 billion. That is more than twice the Gross Domestic Product of Bangladesh with a population of 127 million people.
We all have to do our share to stop the looting and turn the tide. We strongly support you and ask all Californians to follow your advice as to where to shop and where to not shop, and help provide the support you will need. Furthermore, it might be about time for consumers to show Wal-Mart too, that consumers want unionized supermarkets with fair pay and benefits.
We're singers, and our song shall be: stop the crazy wars against people here and abroad. Support the striking workers - support yourself.
Annisette & Thomas Koppel
The Savage Rose
Los Angeles
October 8 2003
Egg Rap
By Thomas of The Savage Rose
This Morning
My Bluebird silent
This morning
No song.
Nature
Holds her breath.
Arn Old
Schwarzen egg
Old Schwarzen egg
W lay schwarzen egg
Rove lay schwarzen egg
Roverer lay schwarzen egg
Ken Lay schwarzen egg
English Only lay schwarzen egg
Egg
Hatch
Egg Egg
Hatch hatch
Hatch
Hatch
Hatch hatch hatchhatchhatchhatch
Eggeggeggegg
Eggeggekk
Ekkekk
ekkk
kkk
KKK
On the Day of the Dead
Requiem for Planet Earth
On Revival Day
Rise Rise Rise!
Don't forget
Thyssen 1933 Union Banking Corp 1942
Birkenau KZ 1943 PhilippinesVietnamCambodiaChileKentStateElSalvadorGuatemalaNicaraguaYugoslaviaFlorida 2000
WTC & Kabul 2001 Enron 2002 Baghdad 2003 Sacramento 2004
The suffering, the dead are Alive
September 17 2003
Ken Gudman
Our friend and fine drummer Ken Gudman has died from cancer, just 55 years old. We feel great pain. Thank you, dear Ken, for your beautiful, swinging and funky drums on WILD CHILD and on numerous concerts around 1973 - 1975. Thank you for making Danish music richer. Thank you for your smile, for your optimism even through tough times. Thank you for everything, dear Ken.
We love you
Annisette & Thomas
July 4 2003We celebrate the 4th Of July! We wish INDEPENDENCE, FREEDOM AND JUSTICE for the American people, for the Afghan, Iraqi, Palestinian peoples, for all peoples of this world that are now under occupation. Actually, we're all under occupation right now. Manipulated by 'leaders' out of touch with the majority of 'their' people. That goes for the Danish people too. Underneath, we're one family as rich and diverse as nature herself. The present 'leadership' of the world is the lousiest the planet has ever experienced: Human living conditions, economy, education, democracy, human rights, security, justice, the global environment, even the weather, disintegrate faster than a sand castle under a hurricane. Their miserable system of deceipt and violence ignite civil wars and unrest everywhere. This planet is falling apart. We can do better than that. 30 million people showed the way only a few months ago - offering a glimpse into their dreams, their diginity and care forthe future - the common good. We're back, Mr. Bush! The 30 million are becoming 60 million and more. You're president by fraud, your Project For An American Century is a disaster even at the cash office. Your polls are falling. Every day more people realize that you have been lying all the time, and your corporate dollars, stolen from the American people (remember Enron...? 'Rolling Black-outs?....) and from poor African gold miners, Latin American banan pickers, or from chidren toiling in Asian sweat shops, don't seem to prevent you, Rumsfeld, Cheney, from stepping in your own shoe laces. Your little lap dog Tony Blair is vanishing too; tiny little lover boy Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark (best known by his 'Red Paint Stunt') is about to burst like a bubble in the summer wind (polls down too). Come on, you people who're in touch with life, who cherish truth and know how to run a world without crime; workers, conscientious scientists and engineers, artists, teachers, truck drivers, students, and DU-damaged soldiers, this 4th Of July is for real Independence! Protect your people and your planet against the 'globalization' mafia! Be a true world patriot! Those sorry amateurs and their sorry corrupt system have done more than enough damage!!!!! Victory is not a 'some day' thing. Victory is making up one's mind right now. Realizing one's own vision for a better world is the same as what billions of other human beings are longing for. The oil boys like to think there's but one superpower now. Well, there is another one. The billions of people that want peace, happiness, and a future for their children. They would make better leaders than this. They have a dream. What a song there is to sing! It's already singing within, every minute. Crossing all borders. What a miracle music can be! Happy Independence Day!!!!!!!!!! ..... Annisette & Thomas, July 4 2003.* Mar 21 2003 Mar 21 2003 Body & Soul Dear all, They kill children in Iraq and Palestine. Eternal love, peace, and victory to the oppressed and to the millions of courageous people all around the planet are fighting to stop it, body and soul! The worldwide protests bring the truth behind the post-911 anti-terror rhetoric of G. W. Bush & Co. out in the open, naked. Our planet is being hijacked, like a huge plane with all the peoples of the world onboard. The hijackers, blind and deaf and without the slightest understanding of history and life, are forcing billions of men, women and children with them on their course towards destruction. The Lie Of The Day is their 'Coalition Of The Willing'. Honestly .... they put France on that list! Blair is still their only real asset, and the ground is shaking under that one. They have made the USA a pariah among the nations. They manipulated and trampled right over their own people, trampled over the UN after they - for the first time in many years - failed in prostituting her. They blame France for her veto but suddenly forgot the innumerable vetoes the US governments have issued against even unanimous decisions of the UN Security Council. Even without a veto they weren't even close to a majority. They are - with their illegitimately 'willing' governments like the Australian or the Danish - in violation of the Nuremberg Charter, The UN Charter, and the UN resolution 1441 on Iraq. This is no war. It is a calculated assault, naked crime. They are still speaking of 'Freedom'. They have violated every institution, the world has built to secure Freedom. they're speaking of 'Security'. Fear, confusion and terror are being utilized against their own people and all peoples. The terrorists they're blaming, were created, armed, and paid by themselves. They are proudly showing off their weapons of mass destruction. Like vultures, their companies, like Cheney's Haliburton, are in for the big bucks by destroying Iraq and then rebuilding for their purposes and in their image. Almost like a new Jesus, G. W. Bush said, 'We'll Leave No Child behind'. They are bombing a country of 50% children, using money taken from food and school books for suffering US children. Sorrow and anger flare up all over the planet. Strikes, blockades, demonstrations in each and every country. This fills us with life and hope. These millions know that fighting for peace means fighting for control of our own lives. Fighting to free the whole, true, uncorrupted creativity of humankind. We need to rise even stronger. Take a look at the world map. See Afghanistan, where the dead are piling up in the streets. It is now another US military base. Then take another look at the map: If Iraq too becomes yet another US base, it is rather obvious, that the real target is Iran. All the greatest existing and future oil fields are being targeted. Total control of energy means total control of Europe, Russia, China - the entire world. Of course, they would also need to finally massacre and displace the entire Palestinian people once again. What we're witnessing in Iraq or Palestine, is a preview of the future of every nation - if the Bush-Blair-Sharon axis have their way. Submit, or 'face the consequences!' We're witnessing the final step of imperialism, its attempted last rise - with its collapse already growing tumors everywhere inside its body. Like a huge Enron. The only true superpower has proven to be the people! Now take to the streets! Speak up, write, sing! Save the children! Stop these criminal, cowardly aggressors! They may really not deserve our pain and our efforts, but the future of Iraq's, Palestine's, our own children, the teenagers who have been sent to fight and die for a few billionaires' insatiable greed, and the future of our unique and beautiful planet do deserve anything we can give! Body and soul! With love Thomas A world aflame NOT IN OUR NAME Mr Death he's playing God Rooters celebrate on oil & blood A world aflame NOT IN OUR NAME His smile demands Blood on our hands A world aflame NOT IN OUR NAME Free our world Free our day Free our song Free our way Free our love Free our minds Free our souls Free our time Free our world Free our day Free our song Free our baby Free our love Free our hands Free our souls Free our friends A world aflame NOT IN OUR NAME (Annisette Oct 2002) Mar 14 2003 RIN DEL ANGELITOS (Dance Of The Little Angels) The Day Before March 15, 2003. By Thomas Koppel Also read the Danish version here or the German and Turkish interpretations HERE. _____________________________ Fortunate Son We haven't seen you for some days now Are you fingering your pretzel. Look: A ghost is waking up! Walking through the world! Faces Old, wrinkled, eyes shining like stars. Black stains of blood. Little faces, Little dirty cheeks, Blood. All walking Walking Walking Towards the steps in front of your temple The temple of the bankers and the executioners. The children Their breath is fresh as apples They smell like children, Sweet, Bitter as life, salt as tears. Already they are dancing everywhere around you. The Little Angels' Dance. Rin del Angelitos. Looks like they could be in the millions. Chile, El Salvador, The Philippines. Palestine, Iraq. Why haven't we seen you for some days now, Fortunate Son? More and more Are gathering Around your house with no windows. These are the children of Hiroshima, Nagasaki. The Jews that died slaves. Remember Thyssen? Thyssen made your family very rich. Thyssen killed my family. Manya's little sister Anna, twenty-nine perished, While the U. S. government Was seizing Union Banking Corporation For trading with the enemy, Adolf Hitler. Letting your Granddad go, of course. And Fortunate Son: Look, the gypsies! The burning guitars, the tambourines, They died too. They are all there. You know, I saw on Fox That you liberated Europe. I honestly think The Dead of Stalingrad Liberated Europe. Twenty million rising through the ice Like the very first spring blossoms. They, too, are there today. You asked for a party, Here it is. Here come The tribes. Apache, Tonkawa, Coushatta, Tawakoni, Chumash, Illinois, Timuka, All there. Kokopelli's flute The drums of the Earth Drums, drums, drums. Drums, heartbeats. heartbeats. They are all there. The Earth is awake. Starting to move. Now hear the sound of broken chains. Hosea Hudson, Angelo Herndon, King, Malcolm, and Huey P. Newton, That's where we came into the picture. The Messenger Speaks. Langston's raisin Exploding in the sun..... Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, garcia Lorca, Paul Robeson, Victor Jara, Violetta Parra, Theodorakis, Nazim Hikmet, Pablo Neruda, Mahmoud Darwish, All the strange and shining fruits That the prisons, The closed doors, The lies, Couldn't prevent from Reaching the sun. They are all there. They are as plenty as the stars! How could I ever mention them all. The children of My Lai. Our sisters and mothers in Sabra & Shatila, These women of Eternal Grace. The poor of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru. Ogoniland. Soweto. Thule. Oh, the Inuits, And the hunger-striking Kurds Of the Gecekondu. Dazzling beauty! Amazing grace! All the lies of corporate TV Can't make it go away! Fortunate Son, I heard you lost your patience today. Your war can't wait. Fortunate Son, be patient. Soon you'll lose it all. You can bomb, kill, destroy, But you have already been defeated. Your lost, bewildered war will find its way back to you. Your patience will be buried in the sand, Just like your bulldozers buried The defenseless soldiers In the sand. They, too, are there They are there with us The salt of the earth. Fortunate Son: You know what? Somebody told you a lie: They said you're the only Superpower. Well, take a look. You are not. There is a Superpower Like nothing else before it: The people of your country The people of the World. The peoples of the little countries That your puppets are imitating, mocking every day. From the Andes, From the jungles, From the slums of the big cities Millions & millions are getting together. From the sweat shops of Tijuana, From the train stations, The long forgotten buses of Los Angeles, With their melancholy, modesty, And innocent pride, The only angelic vehicles Of that City Of Angels, From the schools, The ghettos, And the cemeteries, We are all there. The ultimate superpower. You can put us in cages, Microwave us. MOAB us. We're still there. Look, we are moving, Singing, Dancing, Speaking poetry, We have life. We can start a train We can stop a train. You don't even have Death with you. We have Life and Death on our side. On Dias De Los Muertos The dead dance with the living In the deep of East Los Angeles. You have nothing. Poor Fortunate Son Nothing. No friends. The last shadows vanish At the time of the trial. Your freedom withers in your mouth Tastes rotten. Your weapons kill, But the killed don't die. I am sorry, but we have already forgotten you. And we are moving on. Freedom is not a dream, Freedom has already arrived. Freedom is born every single second In a teenager's mind Who decides to refuse. Feb 15 2003 Dear friends and demonstrators, This message from Annisette and Thomas was read by wellknown actress Vigga Bro to the more than 50,000 demonstrators in front of the US Embassy in Copenhagen Feb. 15, 2003; the largest anti-war protest in Denmark ever. Annisette & Thomas attended the demonstration in Los Angeles - with 100,000 other Angelenos. Whereever we are today, we are all links in the same huge chain. Like you, millions of people across the world have chosen to reject fear and threats in order to protect life and show the way to a future without wars. Thousands of grass root organizations have united in The World Coalition Against War. The popular resistance has shattered Bush's death alliance. Governments defect; reservists refuse. Entire populations rise against it. The Danish people too, with or without the UN fig leaf. But the Danish government is betraying us, so that Denmark still counts as a war nation! Step down, Mr. Fogh! You're obeying a foreign power, not the people you're supposed to serve! Dear friends, don't relax now. A cornered predator is a dangerous predator. But facing a a united mankind, that wants peace and doesn't let itself be fooled, the card castles of death will eventually collapse, as fast as Enron collapsed. Today millions of us have created world history. Only Therefore The Song Is For Life! With all our love Annisette & Thomas Jan 25, 2003 SI SE PUEDE (Yes We Can) (Vi Kan Godt) Annisette & I, together with family and friends, joined the 200,000 demonstrators against the War On Iraq in San Francisco, Jan. 18, 2003. The historic event was part of a nationwide protest organized by A. N. S. W. E. R., a grandiose cooperation between anti-war organzations like International Action Center, Not In Our Name, and numerous others. |
|
| Surrounding
the White House in Washington were more than 500,000 protesters, defying
the icy cold weather, and dozens of local demonstrations took place
all over America. A. N. S. W. E. R.'s call was heard all over the world: in more than 40 countries there were significant demonstrations. Altogether millions protested in the streets of this planet that memorable day. In spite of the initial attempt by e. g. CNN to downplay and ridicule the demonstrations, the worldwide popular manifestation had a major impact and have already turned numerous war-supporting governemts around 180š, and even CNN now realize the depth of the resistance.  |
 There is no longer any doubt, that the peoples of the world are the one and only power able to stop the disastrous course of the US government. The European peace organizations have called for a worldwide protest Feb. 25. But each aday hundreds of popular anti-war demonstrations take place all over the world, while the national polls prove almost zero percent support for Bush's call for war without even the U. N. fig leaf, and almost all populations are against war in any case, even with U. N. approval. We ask all to put candles in their windows each evening in solidarity with the Iraqi people, the Palestinian people, and the peoples of the world - for peace. Even the people of the U. S., Israel, and England are suffering under their governments' ongoing destruction of human - and civil rights, international relations and international law. We support the call for impeachment of all officials in those countries, responsible for this unnecessary and tragic development, for their horrendous violations of all International laws and agreements, e. g. the Haag, Geneve, and Nürnberg concentions, and in most cases their National constitutions and laws as as well. The need for impeachment, in order to protect international law and the U. N., has been documented by Former U. S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and Professor Francis Boyle, University Of Illionois. |
| The
people of this planet must take control now and restore democracy,
peace and justice, in order to protect life, environment, the future
of mankind. Imagine what a wonderful place this planet will be, when friendly peoples can finally start to enjoy each other and enjoy life and nature without the deadly obstacle of corporate greed and violence. Si Se Puede, Yes We Can, as Cesar Chavez of the Mexican farmworkers once said. Thomas Koppel 012503 For thorough documentation on the whole Iraq situation, read Former Attorney General, Ramsey Clark's book THE FIRE THIS TIME. For general, easy, precise and even very entertaining information on the attempts at world hegemony of dozens of U. S. administrations, read the comic book ADDICTED TO WAR. Both pubications are available in our SHOPPING MARKET |
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Jan 13, 2003 |
 |
"....Mr. Prime Minister Anders Fogh-Rasmussen. You're now sending
young Danes to war against this nation, that never did anything to hurt
us. You never asked your people, you only asked a foreign power. In joining
this war, doesn't this make you an accomplice in hundreds of violations
against the Haag, Geneva, and Nuremberg conventions? And what of your
mandate from the Danish people?
If the rest of us do nothing but shake our heads in front of the TV, we
too make ourselves accomplices...."
Annisette & Thomas
http://www.savagerose.com
http://www.stop-terrorkrigen.dk
http://www.notinourname.net
Jan 1, 2003
YEAR OF THE COWARDS -
YEAR OF FREEDOM
or: BREAKING OUT OF THE MIRROR
dansk
version HER
"...We're longing for the true America, honest, friendly like most of the
American people is it. We're longing for the real Denmark, the Denmark
that looks like people in Denmark. We're longing for the real world, peaceful,
open, human, a world in the picture of the people that live in it.
We can do it. We don’t need to hide and falsify history like the
rulers do it. History is our friend, there is vast experience from the
working billions in order to move on intelligently...."
Annisette & Thomas 1/1 2003
Dec 17, 2002
THE SHIP WITH NO NAME
In connection to the recent discoveries on the
tragedy of the ship 'The Scandinavian Star'... New discoveries
show that the fire, which occurred 7 April 1990, was
perhaps not an accident.
Immediately after the disaster April 1990 The Savage Rose wrote 'SKIBET
UDEN
NAVN' (The Ship With No Name). We have translated the originally Danish
lyrics and made the recording available to you here.
Also visit the support group's homesite: http://www.scandinavianstar.no/
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There's a ship
|
der er et skib
|
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Text
and music by Thomas Koppel 1990
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Nov 28 , 2002
TO HAROLD PINTER
Thank you Harold Pinter for a great, honest, courageous
and deeply necessary article on the WWWar (Daily Times http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_26-11-2002_pg3_7).
"...A surprisingly high number of Americans would appreciate and
share your views. This is not about America, this is about a small ugly
multinational mafia controlling their own people by fear and by keeping
them in the dark using public media like they use toilet paper..."
Thomas
Go to top
Sept. 03 , 2002
HISTORY NEEDS YOU
"...It's time for workers, rappers, schoolteachers, accordionplayers, students, janitors, dockers, opera singers, runners, bus drivers, retireds, street cleaners, circus artists, house wives, street officers, transvestites, tapdancers, Vietnam veterans, tank drivers, baby boomers, babies, boomers, angels, devils, philosophers, professors and choir girls - everybody with their minds and hearts intact, to raise their heads & enter the stage now. History needs us...."
Thomas
Go to top
June 19 , 2002
NOT IN OUR NAME
A number of important US artists and intellectuals
have published this statement; among whom Annisette & Thomas. Please
go to ARTISTS'
NETWORK OF REFUSE AND RESIST to read the statement and see
the list of signees.
Go to top
June 5 , 2002
Stop Stoning
sent to
info@iraniancivilrights.com
Stoning
is carried out by placing victims in a ditch up to their chest and filled
and secured to restrain them. A mob is then mobilised and encouraged to
throw stones at the victim until they are dead. Right now Sima is awaiting
her fate in a prison cell. (iraniancivilrights.com)
"...We are strongly against degradation and inhumanity
against women. Stoning is one terrible example.
Stop these crimes..."
Annisette & Thomas
Go to top
May 23, 2002
Cuban Democracy
sent to Los Angeles Times May 22, 2002
Mr. Bush suggests free, no-cheat elections in Cuba.
Does that mean we can start hoping for free, no-cheat elections here in
the US??
Thomas
Go to top
May 9, 2002
Letter From Thomas:
To Our American Friends
"...Israel is close to broke now because of total irresponsibility; only US dollars enables Israel to continue its race
downwards towards total moral disaster. Disaster will not only be reserved
for the Palestinians; it is hitting the Israeli people hard as well.
The US goverment is dissolving as well. All of its words are decomposing
right in their mouths. The 'War On Terrorism' has been revealed as a Terrorist
War. 'Defending democracy' means defending war criminals and state terrorism.
There is no up or down. It is all a huge tangle of lies. We're stuck with a leadership of Smiling Ghosts..."
Thomas
Go to top
May 5 , 2002
Song Of Palestine
Click
HERE for this song, written in Shatila Refugee Camp 1980
Go to top
April 15, 2002
Peace-march April 20
Letter from Annisette & Thomas to the Peace-march in Copenhagen
on April 20 2002. The letter was spread via alternative newschannels before the
Peace March and read to the March by wellknown Danish actor Jesper Klein.
"...The world’s population is not longing for war and oppression but
for peace and justice. Let us not be living dead. Let us together with the budding spring be
living living!
Stop The Crazy Man!.."
Annisette and Thomas
Go to top
April 8, 2002>
Open letter to the Danish National soccer team
in connection with a planned friendly against Israel.
This letter was published in numerous international alternative media,
as well as quoted in several Scandinavian dailies. It started a dramatic
debate on sports and politics, that spread in all Danish media. Thomas
was the main guest in the one major Danish talkshow, discussing the issue
with international sports stars, the Danish Soccer Association, and activists.
The soccer match was not cancelled, but the audience stayed away from
the bleachers; less than 9000 attended the match as compared to the usual
35-40.000. The solidarity with the Palestinian people became a popular
issue, and there were positive international reactions as well (e. g.
see letter
from Norway's Peace Council)
"...The match will be seen as a provocation against those killed and their families;
against millions of peoples’ sense of justice; against the UN; against
the Red Cross and others who daily risk their lives in the line of fire
and it will be seen as an unequivocal support from the national team to
the ongoing massacre. This is entirely out of touch with Danish tradition
and spirit.....
We have often enjoyed the Danish team’s performances and its inspiring
and compassionate way of playing, which we paid tribute to in our song
‘Shooting Stars’. We now hope you are ready for a great performance
on the humane front. Say no thanks to that match..."
Annisette & Thomas Koppel
The Savage Rose
Go to top
April 1, 2002
The Terror of Silence
This message was printed in major Danish Daily Ekstrabladet. Also it
found its way to numerous international media, including Palestinian and
alternative Israeli.
"...Something is brewing. Something evil. Sharon threatens with his nuclear
bombs. President Bush has the day off; polishes slowly his golf club like
an Emperor Nero, who silently played his violin while Rome was burning.
War against terrorists?
According to DEFENCE FOR CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL (DCI) 250 Palestinian
children have been killed, 100 of them under the age of 12. 7-8000 Palestinian
children have been wounded since September 2001. Almost half of them under
the age of 12. They have shot wounds in the head; the neck; the upper
body or in the back.
This is not war against terrorism. This IS terrorism......."
Annisette & Thomas
Go to top
Feb 2002
COURAGE TO RESIST/COURAGE TO REFUSE
Printed on the website of
COURAGE TO REFUSE, Israel, and on numerous alternative internet media.
Feb. 2002
The Savage Rose met the Palestinians as the guests of the PLO in Lebanon
1980. We visited the Sabra and Shatila camps just before the unspeakable
horrors of the massacres for which Sharon has been indicted.
"....I congratulate the Palestinian People for their continuous courage to
resist. For the beauty of their culture. Their poetry, music, art, their
progressive way of life, whenever there was a chance to have a 'way of
life' at all. This is what they should be known for. Not for being victims,
not for being dead children or fathers, not for being grieving mothers.
And certainly not for being 'terrorists'. Shame on those who in this despicable
way vulgarize a nation which maintains this cultural richness under such
impossible circumstances.
And my sincerest congratulations to all peace-loving people in Israel
and all over the world for the appearance of the Courage To Refuse movement
in the Israeli army. This could become another lighthouse of humanity
and justice in a storm of unnecessary bloodshed and pain, and reestablish
the abused dignity of the Israeli people as well."
Thomas Koppel
Composer
Los Angeles
Go to top
"...Coming from Scandinavia and US residents for four years now, we love the American people. We share their hopes, dreams, and sorrows which are no different from the people of our country, and basically no different from any people on the planet. Our American friends have become an inseparable part of our work as music creators and of our personal life.
The American people does not deserve to be made hostages, first by faceless criminals with no conscience or humanity, and then by their own government.
But don't start this war.
Annisette & Thomas Koppel
THE SAVAGE ROSE
please email info@thesavagerose.com