The point, owl, is surely that no matter which of these issues one has gone to protest about, George is the man in the position to do something about it, and so it is entirely legitimate for the crowd to comprise a disparate hotch potch of political views. The Countryside Alliance was no less contradictory, agreed?
The common thread is very obvious. It’s the “fuck you” attitude the U.S. displays.
(At the moment, under this completely fucked-up administration)
Well, goody. At least GWB can’t just toss this off as another “focus group” then.
The Countryside Alliance was a bit of a hodge-podge, but was a tighter focussed hodge-podge than this gang of mommets. It’s weakness was indeed the blurring of the issues, and it suffered accordingly.
Also - where were the two-bob mob when the likes of Ceacescu; Mugabe; Hirohito and Moi were here? Nowhere to be seen, that’s where.
They have the intellectual rigour (and personal hygiene) of Harry Enfield’s teenager - “that is so unfair! I hate you”. and like him they will grow out of it. And at that point maybe the grown-ups will start listening to them.
Well, now we quibble over minutiae and measures of “focus”.
I take it you are organising an “Invade Zimbabwe/Burma/North Korea/etc.” then? Tu Quoqueing gets a little tiresome after a while.
And I hereby characterise the CA as a bunch of inbred tweedy freeloaders with one-eyed barbour-jacketed babies, just for balance. Perhaps you might be interested in my open letter.
That’s my understanding as well. Do they not understand there is and was no ‘war’. There is currently an “occupation”, perhaps they can get a ‘job lot’ price on all that unsold ‘Stop the war’ merchandise. Or perhaps they just want to go back in time . . . I’d like to sympathise but they do make it rather hard.
Anyway, on the general point, let me be an intentionally provocative fucker (including a response to Elvis here):
Is this really about Iraq or not ? And if it really is about Iraq what exactly about Iraq ? Do these protesters know more than me, because I certainly don’t know what the Iraqi majority would like right now (meaning the (non Sunni) Shia’s). Or are they clueless and actually hijacking other peoples’ misery and despair for their own single issues.
Can someone actually tell me the majority of the Iraqi people want the ‘coalition’ gone right now and for them to be left to face the consequences of a near lawless society ? Or maybe the march is about another aspect of this so-called ‘war’? Help me please ?
Indeed, would someone care to explain how assuming an agenda on behalf of others (Iraqi’s) is (morally) legitimate when you don’t know what those others actually want. And because you don’t it means you can march instead for a Free Fucking Tibet ?
Are you not using the Iraqi people for you own ends just as much as Bush ?
Not wishing to quibble, but… The CA were not all there for one purpose - eg fox-hunting ; the CAP; ramblers etc. THis was it’s weakness. However there was at least a semblence of a big-tent.
With this rabble there is too divergent a set of causes, of varying degrees of credibilty, meaning it is very easy to discredit. All the media need to do is ask a few different people what they are against - get a bunch of completely dfifferent, and contradictory, responses and leave it at that.
And I would be right behind attacking Zimbabwe and North Korea (and a few others too). Unfortunately I don’t have first strike capability. In any case - demonstrations don’t work.
Now you’re seriously worrying me. At the moment, 53 of your countrymen in uniform have lost their lives in this “non-war”.
And I have a feeling you’re going to do a good job of it, too
Depends on what you mean by “it”, and which of these bootless-and-unhorsed you ask. Each has their own thoughts and motivations, don’t they?
Can you say anyone has demanded that “right now”?
To the extent that Bush has responsibility for a free Tibet and one disagrees with those policies, one has a right to protest them. If there are a lot of other people alongside you protesting different things, that’s their lookout. But it’s tacky and counterproductive nevertheless. Now, friend, are you telling us that a large percentage of the crowds you’ve seen are protesting Tibet policy rather than the continuing lies of the Iraq war? That doesn’t jibe with the coverage we’ve seen elsewhere; do you know better?
No, now that your post is over, it looks like you haven’t even addressed anything I’ve said to you previously at all. But we may have different cultural norms for communication. Was that “provocative” by British standards, or just being an “intentional fucker”?
It was borrowed from Derek and Clive, who, on reflection, you probably know, so it’ll be a cultural thing. More later
“ . . . who you probably **don’t ** know . . . “
I just want to remind L_C that there were indeed Free Tibet demonstrations when Jiang Zhemin visited London. They weren’t as vehement or as large - but then again the UK wasn’t involved in the occupation of Tibet - but they were quashed worryingly effectively by the Met.
It’s a metaphor: Try whales if it’s easier.
Ah, those Meibion Glyndwr fuckers you mean…
Free Wales!
That is, give Giggs and Earnshaw space to run at the Russian defence while Pembridge and Speed hold midfield.
Tomorrow is the ideal time to lace up one’s cunt-kicking boots…
Notice how the hyped for days protests have all but fallen off the news agenda? According to the BBC website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3283657.stm), a mere 600 usual suspects turned up to bleat about Bush/USA/capitalism/McDonalds. Red faces all 'round I suspect as the media darlings are reduced to reporting some non-story of a reporter who infiltrated Buckingham Palace and even (horror of horrors) GW’s speech!
I did notice, behind Christiane Amanpour, that the protestors were mixed with lookyloos and tourists and they didn’t even fill the path in front of Buck House. But to be fair, maybe it was the middle of the work day, the police were restricting the numbers, or a gazillion people had just finished parading by. Besides, the big shebang is tomorrow.
Sorry, to double-post, but I just have to share this page. It’s a bunch of BBC reporters live from London and Glasgow, covering what’s actually happening on the ground. The protestors are indeed not very many but things seem to be picking up now as people get off work and wander by.
And this entry, from 5:02 pm, is just priceless:
Sooo cute.
Wasn’t Thursday supposed to be the “big protest day”? Perhaps there will be more of a story tomorrow.