Slee, Matt is an activist. He has been organizing and participating in protests for a long time. He has even taken his activisim as far as running for Parliament.
Canada has a minority government, meaning that it is very easy for the government to fall if it does not heed the people. Protesting send a strong signal to the government as to what the people want. If the protests against Bush are no more than two people and dog, that will send a different message than if the protests are well attended. If the protests are well attended, then the government will carefully consider its actions with respect to Bush.
I do have to admit that a “Solidarity In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Drum Solo” would be pretty freakin’ cool.
Which actions would those be though?
There used to be a few of us here. But I haven’t heard from some of them in a while.
Umm, yeah, protesting has never been effective. :rolleyes:
Pick a history book sometime.
You obviously didn’t see the NY march on the republican convention. It was about varied as it gets. Face facts, a lot of different don’t like this guy. If you support him you support him, but don’t just blindly follow him. Hell I had a million beefs with Clinton, and called him out constantly. I think what makes you such an asshole is that you can’t (or won’t) even try to look at things from a different perspective.
Well luckily we don’t need you to get it, because be we do. The bigger the protest the better. The intended results are simple. Serve notice to the Canadian government not to work too closely with Bush, and encourage others around the world to speak up to their governments.
No, not at all. Btw a few hours does not a day make.
When was the last time you left this country?
Just because you don’t care doesn’t mean nobody does.
You’re probably one of those people that says someone getting raped should lie back and enjoy it.
Probably, but as long as it’s a shitload of people with “BUCK FUSH” signs it will make an impression. You guys should really take a lot at the people showing up, it’s hardly hippies and drumheads.
I agree.
I’m sure it will turn some heads in the Canadian government, and if it did, the protest was a success.
Man you guys are a bunch of gutless chickshits, I wonder if you roll over as easy IRL.
“The first demonstration – of Palestinians and sympathisers of the Palestinian cause opposed to Washington’s support of Israel – attracted less than 40 demonstrators.”
39 to be precise and 42 journalists. heh. The journalists outnumbered the protesters. I bet Bush is shivering in his knickers now! Perhaps a bit of disciplined camera control can make the turnout seem massive. I’m just upset the pesky Jews upstaged all the attention once again. Please, can we have some condemnation directed this way as well?
A second later demonstration wasn’t quite so successful. Nobody showed. Apparently not even the organizers. …um
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041130/wl_canada_afp/canada_us_bush
No problem, just call the guy who filmed the Saddam statue getting pulled down.
Just a note, because I really don’t Pit very well. 
BwanaBob, Brutus, it doesn’t matter to me if only a few people turn out or that nobody will care what I say or do. What matters, personally, is that I’m out there making my statement, making my voice heard–that I stand for something, regardless of who cares or not. It’s a personal decision I’ve made and I want to stand by it.
I don’t think protesting is useless, either. Yes, we could all be feeding the hungry and sheltering the poor–both wonderful and noble things to do, all in seriousness–but that doesn’t exclude anyone from attending a protest or helping out with the Torontonians heading for Ottawa–at 7 in the morning!–to make their views known.
I think that’s all I have to say.
Whether or not to push forward with WTO approved sanctions due to the Byrd bill and the softwood lumber dispute.
Whether or not to assist in Iraq by training Iraquis at sites outside Iraq.
But pushing forward with both the WTO and softwood lumber issues were courses of action the government was already taking. And they’re issues that have the support of a large number of Canadians already. Mind you that assumes they’re aware of Bryd in the first place. The same can be said about the beef issue. There’s no need to try and influence the government to follow those paths since they were already on them before the Bush visit trotted up and screwed up my morning commute.
As for training Iraqis, is that even an issue for people? I was vaguely aware of it and I have no issue with Canadian involvement with training a nascent police force for Iraq. At least no more issue with that than I have with our training Haitian “police”.
The only issue I can see protestors trying to influence government policy on would be MDI. Unfortunately, while I think it’s a waste of time and money in it current incarnation, the US will run with it, they will lock us out of continental defense and they will ignore any territorial claims of sovereignty over the artic unless we sit at the table. It’s an absolute bitch of an arrangement to find ourselves in.
I saw the Buck Fush sign on CBC Newsworld. I wonder if that was you?
I know I’m flailing pointlessly against windmills, and I’ve done it a thousand times before. But I just wanted to say that I look upon these Hitler/Nazi analogies with about the same amount of disgust as I would do a KKK march, White Power racist propaganda or bible thumbing anti-Darwinists. You are mocking thirty million victims of Nazi barbarism, diluting the whole concept to an irrelevant slur without basis in real life history (and without sting), making it harder to counter any real Nazi resurgence and thus making any comeback so much easier. It disgusts me. Anyone carrying such a message or walking in a demonstration with someone who does has lost all claims to respect and pretty much invalidated whatever else message there might have been.
http://www.amalgamatedlampblack.com/images/protest/1000-1130/2004-11-30_1000-1130_043.JPG
http://www.amalgamatedlampblack.com/images/protest/1000-1130/2004-11-30_1000-1130_030.JPG
http://www.amalgamatedlampblack.com/images/protest/1000-1130/2004-11-30_1000-1130_006.JPG
http://www.amalgamatedlampblack.com/images/protest/1000-1130/2004-11-30_1000-1130_013.JPG
This last one cleverly include a David Star in the US/Nazi imagery. “Israel Conspiracy Anglo American Terrorism” And you wonder why you are ridiculed? Perhaps because you are fucking idiots?
Although the poster below seem to think some kind of strange cabal of Israel and the UK have masterminded the gullible US into war? The mind boggles.
These are just plain ridiculous:
Hate to be the one to break it to you guys, but the election is over.
http://www.amalgamatedlampblack.com/images/protest/1130-1230/2004-11-30_1130-1230_090.JPG
“The only terrorist I know is named Bu$h”. Wow. I guess you missed all the hoopla with Bin Laden & Mohammed Atta and his merry band of freedom fighters.
http://www.amalgamatedlampblack.com/images/protest/1000-1130/2004-11-30_1000-1130_039.JPG
This one (</Bush>) is great – short and to the point: Bravo!
http://www.amalgamatedlampblack.com/images/protest/1130-1230/2004-11-30_1130-1230_078.JPG
I did not know that. Right on for Matt. At the same time a “BUCK FUSH” shirt, while funny, probably isn’t the best way to convince someone who likes Bush to rethink their position. I certainly think that it isn’t going to change the minds of anyone in the Canadian government.
I guess it depends on what, exactly, you expect the protest to accomplish. If the protest is just to show that you don’t like Bush then it’ll work. If, on the other hand, there are specific policies you want changed I don’t see this kind of protest accomplishing much at all.
Some other things:
Actually, it’s not a point. It’s a generalzation. “Bush is evil” is a generalzation. “Bush is wrong about {insert issue here}” is a point. See the difference?
I totally disagree with this. Somehow “expressing yourself” has become an end in itself even if it accomplishes absolutely nothing at all. I just don’t get it.
and last
I never said that they were a bunch of hippies and drumheads.
Slee
On the CBC radio this morning, it was stated that for this meeting training Iraqis is on the table, but MDI is not.
No, “Bush is evil” is most certainly a point. See, the point of that protest would be that, well, Bush is evil. You are talking about a specific issue, most likely one of policy. That is not the same thing as a point.
Probably because you hold different personal values and goals, and that’s wonderful, we live in a free society. But surely somewhere in your mind you can find room for someone for whom personal expression would form a vital part of living in a representative democracy? Indeed, isn’t that a large part of the word ‘representative?’ Yes, for some, having a voice is an end in and of itself, do you really want to discourage them?
You have quoted me in error, I never said that.
Well that’s excellent. We can train them and promote international co-operation by putting them in the same dorm as the African Union peackeepers.
Slee, the Buck Fush sign will make the national news, as Phelan has already noted.
That will encourage more people to think about the meeting and what is being discussed at it. And that will result in some people expressing their opinions to the politicians, who in turn will participate in making the policy decisions that will affect our relationship with the USA and the rest of the world.
One person writing a letter or making a call to a Member of Parliament may make a diference, but a lot of people doing the same has a much better chance. Wide spread media attention will lead to more such letters and calls than would otherwise be made.
You mean this one? (Imagestation membership required)
What am I missing here Muffin? There are no government policies that currently support the Bush administration outside of MDI and maybe the slow down on the decriminalization of pot. What policy exactly are the protestors aiming to influence in your view? From here, and looking at matt’s slogan list, well it is pretty much policy neutral and personality specific.