New poem for the #WISH20 campaign

 #WISH20

We’re living in hard times under the sun
The laws that protect us are coming undone
We’ve poisoned our land and we’ve blackened our soil
Paved the way for disaster with tarmac and oil

We can no longer live without thought to our fate
And it’s time to act now before it’s too late

So wish plenty for WISH20, make them with care
Wrap them in dreams, send them into the air
Because it’s clear in our atmosphere, it’s time to repair

George Orwell once said, “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”.

I say, in times of environmental defeat, a crime against peace is an evolutionary pact.

 

  Wish20 is a global citizens initiative which seeks to have Ecocide brought into law as a Crime Against Peace by 2020. This would sit alongside Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes & the Crime of Aggression.

By signing the Wish20 petition we can call on our world leaders to end the mass damage and destruction our planet faces every day, and together we can end this era of Ecocide.


"Martin Powell" t-shirts picked up by THTC!

Amazing news! "Martin Powell, The Missing Piece is Peace" t-shirts have officially been picked up by the award winning ethical clothing line THTC! (The Hemp Trading Company). Our first run of tees will be available soon and will be based upon my current t-shirt design below!



Competition Winners! 

Congratulations to Henna Luoma-Halkola, Lucy Karwatowska and Mash Hall!!! Your limited edition "Missing Peace" t-shirts are on the way, to everyone else thank you so much for entering. I will have brand new t-shirts availble soon through my sponsors THTC!


Ellie-May Brooks (top), Anita Petrovan (left) & Sandra Sabuta sporting their "Missing Peace" shirts 

 






Performance at Resurgence & The Ecologist - Festival of Wellbeing

Celebrating the 45th anniversary of Resurgence magazine and the recent merger between the two publications, now called Resurgence and Ecologist. 

Speakers included Jonathon Porritt, Fiona Reynolds, Lord Richard Layard, Caroline Lucas MP, Polly Higgins, Nic Marks, Matt Harvey and Martin Powell.

You can watch the whole event online via Policy Review TV HERE.






How to Teach...Students the Power of their Voice - Guardian Article Feat Martin Powell

Really lovely to be included in this wonderful article by Emily Drabble of The Guardian.
You can read the full article via the link below.

"Martin Powell's stirring poetry provides a real wake-up call for students, who are likely to respond to his accessible, in-your-face lyrics. Write for Human Rights gets straight to the point (see Martin performing the poem here) and the simplicity of Affirmations has the power to move mountains. His poetic quotes will add fuel to the fire of any student protest or demonstration. You can find all Martin Powell's poems on the Guardian Teacher Network here."

Emily Drabble, Contributing Editor, Guardian Teacher Network. Monday 25th June 2012 17:00 BST

Read the full article HERE.


Now available as a resource on The Guardian Teacher Network!

I'm very excited to announce that my work has now been added as a resource on The Guardian Teacher Network. This includes several of my poems and extracts from my speeches at various protests and demonstrations. A massive thank you to Emily Drabble and to Lisa Spiller for including me in such a wonderful project.

If you are a teacher and would be interested in using any of my protest poems or quotes as a resource for your students please follow the link below to find them on The Guardian's website.






Poetry performance for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development: Rio+20

Today I had the pleasure of taking part in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20. I was commissioned to write and perform a poem for Janos Pastor, Executive Secretary of the Secretary General's High Level Panel on Global Sustainability.

The poem was broadcast during Open High-level Dialogue on
T H E F U T U R E W E C H O O S E.

Attendees included:

- Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former DirectorGeneral of the World Health Organization, member of The Elders, member of the
UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability.

- Gunilla Carlsson, Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden,
member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability.

- Jim Balsillie, Chair of the Board of the Centre for International Governance
Innovation and former Co-Chief Executive Officer of Research in Motion, member
of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability.

- Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Pedro Telles, socio-environmentalist, Elders+Youngers
- Fan Jingyi, student, Peking University
- Mei-Jia (Mika) Tan, CSD Major Group for Children and Youth
- Sonia Preisser, Coordinator, GEEBIZ Initiative

Moderator: Janos Pastor, Executive Secretary of the Secretary General's High Level Panel on Global Sustainability.


You can watch the poem on Youtube HERE or via the UN's website HERE.


Amnesty International and The Guardian Teacher Network - Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year Awards Ceremony - Feat Martin Powell

Amnesty International's Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year reached its climax yesterday with the unveiling of the 2012 winners at a prestigious awards ceremony in London.

The presenter of the ceremony was the BBC's Ellie Crissel, who warmly invited many inspirational speakers to the stage including, Martin Powell, performance poet and activist, Emily Drabble, contributing editor of The Guardian Teacher Network, Jack Shenker, a brilliant young Guardian journalist and Pete Henshaw, editor and publisher of the secondary education newspaper SecEd.

Source: amnesty.org.uk


Click HERE to watch Martin perform "Write for Human Rights" which was commissioned by Amnesty International and performed at the ceremony. 

They say "All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." 
But what if all it took for evil to fail was for you to write something?  

Martin speaking at the event. 


Latest News: UK Tour - in association with Amnesty International, Sponsored by THTC


After performing for Amnesty International's top 250 student activists in November, I have decided to offer a FREE UK Tour open to any university who would like to run a fundraising event for Amnesty International - THTC are sponsoring the tour and offering a whopping 30% off their award-winning t-shirts using the discount code: AMNESTY.

If you would run an event at your university just contact me for details.
You can check out THTC HERE.





The Power of Young People

We know how it goes when we’re in our youth; we’re strong, we belong, but we long for the truth.

The fires burn brightly as we dare to dream of the way things should be, not the way that they seem.

Aware of the issues and misuse of power, as our love is unfurled for a world that is ours.


But as we proceed through the times and ingest all the values we’re sold, what we’re told is “progress”,

Distracted with life’s many strife’s to digest, our appetite for what’s right is then put to the test.

Until we reach a stage where our rage is suppressed, our hopes and our dreams they are slowly undressed,

And it seems we’re too busy to even protest. This is why in young people we must now invest.


And reach out to those ruling the schooling majority,

Put pressure on those who have the authority to implement change and make kids a priority.

And tackle the issues concerning their learning; provide coal for the soul to keep the fires burning.

We’ve got to show up to help and assist them before they grow up and get lost in the system.

And prepare them to fight for the dreams that they chase, without losing sight of what’s right for this race.


And with efforts combined we’ll find the tools we need for schools to succeed.

Feeding minds and planting seeds to grow the kind of lives these children need.

A system redesigned with no child left behind.

For what if our tutors they changed with the times and encouraged our kids to colour outside the lines?


What if we taught them to work as a whole?

To enrol in elections? That they’re in control?

And opened their eyes up to each opportunity,

To strengthen the ties up within their community?


Would philanthropic topics affect their perceptions?

Alive with the drive for whole new directions?

With vision revision and classes of clarity?

On good wholesome living and giving to charity?


What if we were to show how their vocal ability,

Could bring about local and global stability?

And build on a future where no one stops caring -

Where passion is fashionable, not what you’re wearing.


What if they learned the true value of laughter?

That our Planet Earth it is worth looking after?

And with greener ambitions we can pioneer,

A new way in cleaner emissions that’s clear?


What if we each did what we have to do?

To enlist, to resist, to persist and pursue?

If we each raised a fist, then what would ensue?

For change is the future, and that change is you.


You are the next leaders, and misleaders.

But will you be greeders? Or world feeders?


You are the next teachers and political preachers.

But will they be great speeches inclined to combine and collaborate?

Or hate speeches designed to divide and discriminate?


Writers? Inciters? Fighters for a cause?

Whole hearted martyrs? Or starters of wars?


Evangelical saints or clerical sinners?

Noble beginners or Nobel Peace Prize winners?


Philosophic conceivers? Devout disbelievers?

On the dole? On parole? Or the highest achievers?


Binge drinking boozers or free thinking choosers?

You don’t have to grow up and become McLosers.

We are the generation to have this realisation.


With will and skill we can fulfil our social obligations; to build rapports, to open doors and lead investigations,

Into every clause of current laws of rules and legislation, so everybody has the right to insight and information.

And through our new communion of communal communication,

We’ll march streets across the nation, trust in transformation,

And get these corporations cooperating together; for a future that’s bright, whatever the weather.


Let us atone, and carve in stone the people’s new decree.

Let us make our affirmations known, so repeat after me:


I swear to take care of the air that I breathe.

I declare to fight for what I believe.

I guarantee to be the best I can be.

I vow to help others to be just as free.

I promise to never be consumed by greed.

I pledge my allegiance to all those in need.

I assure my assistance so suffering may cease.

& I give my word to speak only of peace.


So let us stand together now and start this revolution,

And work with institutions building permanent solutions,

For the sake of civilisations educational evolution.


© Martin James Powell 2010