G8 - One year on - actions and follow ups
Monty | 08.07.2006 08:56
The collection of Middle Class students and protest junkies that descended on Scotland last year showed more than anything why the UK activist movement is less influencial than it has ever been.
While some thought the way to cure poverty in Africa was to dress as a clown and bang a drum others who recognise that change is achieved by gaining power and then using it were ensuring the largest ever aid package for Africa in history. Today one year on we see the results of their respective actions.
The UK activist movement - fragmented, ignored, ridiculded and powerless had achieved nothng while others who didn't feel the same desire to be looked at have ensured that millions in Africa now have clean drinking water and hope.
Here in Bristol I despaired as debate after debate, meeting after meeting fell into the inevitable activist trap of worrying more about procedures, commitee structures and "ways of achieving decisions in a non hieracical way" than they did working toward helping those who needed our help. The war in Afghanistan only a fool would have been critical of (does anybody really think the Taleban made a better government ?) but that didn't stop some condeming it. Iraq came next and once again there was a bandwagon to jump onl but I never heard any suggestions for getting rid of Saddam, halting his murderous regime and freeing the 270,000 dissidents held in his jails. As ever it is easier to blame than help.
Africa still needs our help but of course the UK activist community has moved on to the latest fashionable crusade, some nutcase outside Parliment who I needed less than ten minutes talking with to know needed a mental health proffesional as a matter of urgency. Instead of helping the man however he is lauded as a "defender of free speech" and his weird collection of belongings refered to as things of value. In the last couple of months we have seen the nasty side of UK activism, the latent anti-semitism that is always justified as concern for Palestine or opposition to "Zionism". The Left and Right have always found it convenient to blame Jews and with the Marks and Spencer protests and actions against Tescos we have seen both ends of the political spectrum united in some Jew bashing under the pretence of anti Israeli actions. At the recent Tesco protest we even had the amazing sight of a radical Islamic cleric (Mossad is everywhere, the Jews control TV etc etc) standing with two known BNP members and speaking to a group of "The Wall Must Fall" activists. Nice to see that anti-semitism bought them all together !
Like many in this movement I am walking away.
I have walked away from you all, from the loonies who think
While some thought the way to cure poverty in Africa was to dress as a clown and bang a drum others who recognise that change is achieved by gaining power and then using it were ensuring the largest ever aid package for Africa in history. Today one year on we see the results of their respective actions.
The UK activist movement - fragmented, ignored, ridiculded and powerless had achieved nothng while others who didn't feel the same desire to be looked at have ensured that millions in Africa now have clean drinking water and hope.
Here in Bristol I despaired as debate after debate, meeting after meeting fell into the inevitable activist trap of worrying more about procedures, commitee structures and "ways of achieving decisions in a non hieracical way" than they did working toward helping those who needed our help. The war in Afghanistan only a fool would have been critical of (does anybody really think the Taleban made a better government ?) but that didn't stop some condeming it. Iraq came next and once again there was a bandwagon to jump onl but I never heard any suggestions for getting rid of Saddam, halting his murderous regime and freeing the 270,000 dissidents held in his jails. As ever it is easier to blame than help.
Africa still needs our help but of course the UK activist community has moved on to the latest fashionable crusade, some nutcase outside Parliment who I needed less than ten minutes talking with to know needed a mental health proffesional as a matter of urgency. Instead of helping the man however he is lauded as a "defender of free speech" and his weird collection of belongings refered to as things of value. In the last couple of months we have seen the nasty side of UK activism, the latent anti-semitism that is always justified as concern for Palestine or opposition to "Zionism". The Left and Right have always found it convenient to blame Jews and with the Marks and Spencer protests and actions against Tescos we have seen both ends of the political spectrum united in some Jew bashing under the pretence of anti Israeli actions. At the recent Tesco protest we even had the amazing sight of a radical Islamic cleric (Mossad is everywhere, the Jews control TV etc etc) standing with two known BNP members and speaking to a group of "The Wall Must Fall" activists. Nice to see that anti-semitism bought them all together !
Like many in this movement I am walking away.
I have walked away from you all, from the loonies who think
Monty