Hi everyone!
So I hear on the grapevine that the Lunatics are doing the network tournament this year - great news!
Is there a plan on how we are getting there? Trains? Planes? A bus? What's happening?
Hopefully see you soon (when I can walk again..)
Beth x
Hello all.
We are opening Tuesday ‘game only’ sessions for new starters. Numbers can
be a bit low so it’s a good way of making them up and introducing new folk
to the cows. We will be constantly monitoring the situation. Please tell
anyone who may be interested as we are not advertising on our socials.
Thanks.
P
I get regular updates from the villagers group. Please let me know if you
wish to be added to the list. I am lucky enough to consider the amazingly
strong Erella a friend of mine. If you want to find out more about the
Villagers Group give me a shout.
I still shocked by the daily acts of nastiness / evil / aggression that
Palestinians are subjected to by Zionist settlers - this is officially not
anywhere near the 'war' (read genocide)-area.
Maybe it's a good sign that I am still shocked. Maybe I'm just naïve to
still have hope for anything different...
Becs
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: The Villages Group <villagesgroup1(a)gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2024 at 10:50
Subject: Erella\ Report from Last Week's Visits
To: Ehud Krinis <ksehud(a)gmail.com>
Dear friends,
Again, I sit in front of the empty computer screen, and have a hard time
deciding what to tell you now. Every hour, every day, difficulties and
crimes pile up even in the south Mt. Hebron, and there is no justice, no
pay, we cannot even help, not to mention rescue.
Since the present war broke out, our permanent aid (helping with studies
and professional courses) has been augmented with existential needs of a
population now denied the possibility of making a living. We can still
bring them pampers and milk powder for babies, basic food for families,
medication and the like - thanks to your donations, dear friends! - but we
cannot affect the trampling, power mongering settlers and the government’s
policy (army, police, Civil Administration). These now multiply basic needs
and our abilities diminish. Sometimes I think that even Sisyphus would give
up…
What we do unconditionally is maintain discourse in which our friends, and
we, might find a source of strength.
Early this week we visited our friends in Taban. A. said that for a few
days, settlers did not bring their flocks to graze in Taban’s farmland.
“And now on Saturday again they came,” he continued. “Their large flock
dined on the barley we had sown in our fields and which had just begun to
sprout.” A familiar pain between smarting insult and helplessness took over
the room. Into this silence, I said: “You are brave people.” They asked me
why I say this, and I answered it was because they manage to control
themselves and not take revenge. I googled and found the poem “Revenge” by
Taha Muhammad Ali, and asked young F. to read it aloud in Arabic for those
present:
At times … I wish
I could meet in a duel
the man who killed my father
and razed our home,
expelling me
into
a narrow country.
And if he killed me,
I’d rest at last,
and if I were ready—
I would take my revenge!
*
But if it came to light,
when my rival appeared,
that he had a mother
waiting for him,
or a father who’d put
his right hand over
the heart’s place in his chest
whenever his son was late
even by just a quarter-hour
for a meeting they’d set—
then I would not kill him,
even if I could.
*
Likewise … I
would not murder him
if it were soon made clear
that he had a brother or sisters
who loved him and constantly longed to see him.
Or if he had a wife to greet him
and children who
couldn’t bear his absence
and whom his gifts would thrill.
Or if he had
friends or companions,
neighbors he knew
or allies from prison
or a hospital room,
or classmates from his school …
asking about him
and sending him regards.
*
But if he turned
out to be on his own—
cut off like a branch from a tree—
without a mother or father,
with neither a brother nor sister,
wifeless, without a child,
and without kin or neighbors or friends,
colleagues or companions,
then I’d add not a thing to his pain
within that aloneness—
not the torment of death,
and not the sorrow of passing away.
Instead I’d be content
to ignore him when I passed him by
on the street—as I
convinced myself
that paying him no attention
in itself was a kind of revenge.
*Nazareth*
*April 15, 2006*
*Translated by Peter Cole, Yahya Hijazi and Gabriel Levin*
After this there were no more questions. Only the head nods, agreeing.
Later in the week we visited A. in the outskirts of Susya. Settlers of
Susya settlement and its satellites have now been harassing A. and his
aging parents daily (I wrote about him in past reports). Last Saturday,
February 3, 2024, work began, paving a track through his own farmland, the
same land the settlers have prevented him from tending since the outbreak
of the current war. They just brought a bulldozer and began works. They
work at night. As usual, there is no justice. No one to turn to. We sat in
the morning sun with A. and his father, next to what would be a house when
A. would be able to afford completing its construction. We saw the
injustice with our own eyes.
So much sadness was in their eyes, and no rage. I heard myself telling A.
what I had already said in Taban this week, and for the second time this
week I was asked why I said this. I told A. the Taban story and gave him
the same poem, printed out.
When he was done reading, he said: “We don’t think about revenge. We think
about ways to stay on our land. We would gladly live in peace with our
neighbors. But they do not want this.”
A’ speaks very little, if ever. I never heard him utter so many words at
once. Every word is golden and when I write them, they are etched in my
heart.
I send them to you with much love.
Erella
On behalf of the Villages Group
--
https://villagesgroup.wordpress.com/https://www.facebook.com/villagesgroup/
Hi Herd,
Me again, but in the position of scout not secretary.
My friend works for a TV production company and is working on a teleprogramme for Paramount+. The general plot is that a Detective is working on a case about missing asylum-seeking people in Bristol and there will be one scene where she plays football. My friend has asked if any Cowgirls would like to be in this scene. There would be a donation to our ethical fund. It would be one evening at somewhere like Horfield leisure centre from around sunset to 2200-2230 in the next 3-4 months.
If you are interested in joining in, please drop me a message and I'll see if there's enough interest to try and make a go of it.
Thanks,
Lizzie
Hi everyone,
It’s January and you’re skint but before you plan that payday bender please remember to leave a little aside for your cowgirls membership fee.
Membership fees ensure that we always have cash reserves for kit (balls, cones, bibs etc.) and we can cover any shortfall if attendance for a particular session is low and subs don’t cover the cost of pitch hire or coaches. It also means we can have an Ethical Fund, which supports members who can’t afford to take part in cowgirls activities, wider club members in crisis, community members in crisis and social / political causes that align with our ethos.
We ask everyone to pay in January (realistically early Feb) to cover themselves for the year. You may have paid later in the year if you joined last year but that was for last year so I’m afraid it’s due again now. As always, money is never a barrier so if you can’t afford it don’t worry about it.
£20 waged / £10 unwaged by bank transfer with "your first name - membership" in the reference:
Easton Cowgirls Women's Football Club
Sort Code: 089299
Account Number: 65168055
Please pay by 10th Feb.
Thanks!
Hi everyone,
Just a reminder that there is a Cow-related event happening in the Plough on New Year's Day.
NEW YEAR'S REVOLUTION @ THE PLOUGH
2pm - 6pm
Start the new year in revolutionary style by celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico. Solidarity group Kiptik, formed by Cowfolk who toured the autonomous communities back in the 1990s and early 2000s, are taking over the Plough from 2 – 6pm on New Year’s Day for a daytime fundraiser and invite you all to join them.
* FOOD! Mexican meals will be served for £10 per head. Very limited availability so pre-book your food ASAP to avoid disappointment. Contact Kev 07570588153 or Steve Nation on 07743484200.
* EXHIBITION! We’ll be displaying photos of our water, health and other projects in Chiapas, plus images of the original Cowfolk football adventures.
* RAFFLE Buy a ticket, win a great prize including restaurant vouchers, hammocks, Kiptik merch and more.
* MERCH! Our brand new, limited edition, Banksy-inspired T shirt will be on sale, along with other apparel and Zapatista coffee.
All monies raised go to water and essential infrastructure projects in the autonomous Zapatista communities. For more info on Kiptik go to www.kiptik.org<http://www.kiptik.org/>
**************************************
If you’re not able to make it on the day but fancy entering the raffle – and at present there is a very good chance of winning a decent prize! – do let me (0779 8873577), or Steve or Kev know before the day and we’ll allocate you a number and details of where you can transfer your money.
Vive la revolution!
Beth x
Please find attached minutes of Monday's Bi Annual meeting.
There is a lot of wider club stuffs to get involved in.
Enjoy.
Cow-Mitte.
Sent from Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>
