Peace protest paralyses London

[Ayinde]

By Arthur Neslen, english.aljazeera.net

Popular anger at the occupation of Iraq spilled into the heart of London on Thursday, as hundreds of thousands of people protested in what organisers said was the largest ever weekday demonstration in British history.

Police estimated the numbers marching at 110,000. But Chris Nineham, a spokesman for the Stop the War Coalition, said that 350,000 had joined the protest.

"We've shown the warmongers that far from disappearing, we're still growing," he said, "and we'll stay on the streets until we win".

The anti-war MP Alice Mahon said she thought a quarter of a million had taken part. "I've lived through the Vietnam demonstrations, the protests against Thatcher and the Poll Tax," she told Aljazeera.net, "and this is one of the biggest I've ever seen."

Inevitably, the bombing of the British consulate and HSBC bank in Istanbul cast a pall over the carnival-like proceedings, but protesters were not deflected from their goals.

Istanbul bombing

"Everybody deplores attacks on civilians like this," Mahon said. "They are indefensible but the invasion and occupation of Iraq have increased the risk of terrorism and made the world a more dangerous place. What's needed is a different foreign policy."

A lunchtime press conference by visiting US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which they said the bombings justified the so-called "war on terrorism" was treated with universal derision by those marching.

"The reason we're marching today is because of all the people who were killed," said Carlito, a Huddersfield student who held up a giant skeletal puppet draped in a star-spangled banner.

"Terrorism is a result of oppression, and since September the 11th, George Bush has been oppressing the whole world, including us."

Climate change



As dusk fell over Trafalgar Square, a huge cheer bounced off the embassies and galleries when a golden six metre high statue of Bush was scaled and toppled by activists in white boiler suits.

On the square's southern flank, two bonfires lit the night sky as protestors burned British and American flags.

"BBC, ITV, this is not for you to see," they chanted as cameramen and photographers scrabbled for pictures. But American demonstrators were not intimidated by the gesture.

"It's not a tactic that I'd use but the American constitution defends flag-burning and people should have the right to express themselves in that way," said Mitra Abdulahi, a  student, 23, from Los Angeles. "This is a demonstration in support of real American values."

Sanjay Pinto, from Bowling Green, Ohio, agreed. "There's sure a lot of Americans here for an anti-American protest," he said. "People can distinguish between being anti-Bush and being anti-American."

Massive demonstrations of this kind are becoming a part of the political furniture in western European countries. Some activists said they were frustrated by the police lines preventing them from entering the Mall which leads to Buckingham Palace.

Jubilant protests


This image was censored

Even so, the mood was one of jubilance and celebration. In a continuation of the creative mood that has characterised the anti-globalisation movement, many protesters carried their own placards.

"I'm here to kill Bush (shoot me)" read one; "I never wanted war no matter what TV told me," another.

"It's really jovial here," said Mudasser Hussein, a pharmacist, 25, from High Wycombe said. "It's nice to see so many people who haven't been duped into believing that all Muslims are terrorists."

Indeed, families, pensioners and people in wheelchairs all coursed through Trafalgar Square in a display of the anti-war movement's sheer diversity.

"I'm here to protest against Bush's policies," said Patrick Jones, 14, from Wolverhampton. "He's not welcome here."

In the run up to the demonstration, newspaper reports had suggested that many schools were preparing to clamp down on pupils coordinating a strike day. But the attempt did not appear to have been successful.

"This is an educational experience," his mother, Christine, chipped in. "If the school doesn’t like it, tough."

[Tracey]

As the war rages on in Iraq and really the entire Middle East… I am observing how various peoples from around the globe are now galvanizing and rallying against the U.S. for what now is becoming clearer in the eyes and minds of the masses.

They have been grossly misinformed and are being used as pawns for something that the masses are not in support of! Anyone with any intelligence cannot conscientiously support the legitimacy of this war… and it is right and just that the people band together to protest their insult and disgust of those who place themselves in positions of authority over the people.

The British I can only imagine must feel used and abused to extend their military and resources to help to fight this horrendous ill-thought out ludicrous war… and are now rising to the occasion to claim their strong convictions against this unwarranted abuse of power. How is it that a few have the power to plunge our countries into the abyss while we stand by and watch??

If this war serves ANY good...perhaps it will be to help ignite the power within the people to stand united to fight for what we as human beings feel is right!  

[Ayinde]

By William Rivers Pitt
http://truthout.org

Friday 21 November 2003

A number of explosions tore through the British consulate in Turkey today, killing scores of people. George W. Bush is in England, surrounded on all sides by enraged British citizens whose massive protests have required nearly every police officer in London to be put on the line of defense.

This is happening in a nation that has been, both in government and among the populace, one of the strongest allies America has ever known. There are a couple of wars happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, neither of which are going very well. A great many soldiers and civilians have died in the last year. Osama bin Laden is still on the loose, and after nearly 750 days, the American people have still been given no explanation for why September 11 happened.

It is 3:16 p.m. on Thursday afternoon as I write this. CNN has been covering, with total exclusivity, a parking lot outside a police station for the last hour. They covered an airplane landing. They covered the same airplane sitting still on the tarmac. They covered the airplane slowly moving into a hangar. All the while, talking head after talking head explored every conceivable facet of the parking lot, the plane, the tarmac, and the hangar, as well as a variety of parallel issues. No stone of data was left unturned.

Why? Michael Jackson is about to surrender to police.

In the last two years, CNN has not devoted this much energy and coverage to any story in the manner that is unfolding right now. Enron, the stock market, the reasons for September 11, the nomination of Henry Kissinger to chair the investigation into that event, the disinformation that was pushed by the Bush administration before the attack on Iraq, the civilian casualties during the attack on Iraq, the American troop casualties during and after the attack on Iraq, the missing weapons of mass destruction, the missing Osama bin Laden, the war in Afghanistan that is far from over, the outing of a CIA agent by the Bush administration in an act of political revenge, and about two hundred other explosive stories did not get the attention that Michael Jackson is getting now.

One talking head just said, "I'm waiting for a white Bronco to pull up."

The other talking heads laughed and kept on going. A detailed discussion progressed about the tail numbers on Michael Jackson's plane, along with questions about how all this will affect Jackson's fans. We're approaching the two-hour mark in the coverage.

For a while we had the Petersons to obsess the mainstream television media. Then we had Kobe Bryant, and for a bit both stories ran concurrently with 'Breaking News' announcements throughout daily coverage. Neither managed to seize national attention, and so periodically CNN and the other networks were forced to mention that the fighting in Iraq is getting a lot of Americans killed, the promised weapons of mass destruction have not been found, and no one but Dick Cheney can say that Iraq was involved in September 11 without looking like a total blithering idiot.

And then, like a surgically enhanced cavalry charge, Michael Jackson blasts to the forefront to rescue the mainstream media from perhaps being required to cover matters of substance. The ability for these talking heads to natter on for weeks and weeks about Jackson, previous charges against him, his musical history, his personal oddities, his baby-dangling antics, and "Oh my goodness, what do we tell the children?" is pretty much bottomless, but we will spend the next several weeks, again, racing to that bottom as quickly as television signals can travel through a coaxial cable.

A black Bronco just left the airplane hangar, and is driving slowly, slowly to the police station. CNN is on it. CNN is all over it.

One of the shots on my television an hour ago showed a gaggle of reporters and cameras gathered outside the police station, waiting for Jackson to arrive. The talking head working the microphone at that moment mistakenly called those people "journalists." This is not journalism, and those people are not journalists. This is entertainment television passed off as news of import. This is more poison poured into our national discussion. This is the grand bull moose gold medal winning distraction of all time.

George W. Bush should send Michael Jackson flowers and a thank-you note, and send more flowers to CNN. The Republican Party effected an historic takeover of Congress in 1994, during a time when the only television coverage one could find focused on OJ Simpson. The timing was exquisite.

We're right back, today, to that marvelous chapter in American journalism history.

TV news viewers who think they are getting the hard truth from the mainstream media just forgot Bush exists, forgot the hundreds of thousands of protesters who have dogged his state visit to Britain, forgot the attacks in Iraq, forgot the dead soldiers, forgot September 11, forgot everything except a mutant in a Bronco who lives in a place called Neverland.

They just showed Jackson in handcuffs. The talking heads almost fainted.God bless America.

-------

William Rivers Pitt is the Managing Editor of truthout.org. He is a New York Times and international best-selling author of three books - "War On Iraq," available from Context Books, "The Greatest Sedition is Silence," available from Pluto Press, and "Our Flag, Too: The Paradox of Patriotism," available in August from Context Books.

http://truthout.org/docs_03/112103A.shtml