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Gaza DEC appeal veto Birmingham's 'BBC Mailbox' Studio picketed 31st January 09

Stalingrad O'Neill | 04.02.2009 05:58 | Palestine | Repression | Terror War | Birmingham

The BBC claims it cannot show the appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee because it does not want to compromise its commitment to impartiality" Its head Mark Thomson has neglected to mention his visit to Israel in November 2005, where he held “peace talks” with Ariel Sharon over alleged anti-Israeli bias in the BBC. or his Jewish wife Jane Blumberg is a Zionist,

Mukhtar reading a poem
Mukhtar reading a poem

Younger students
Younger students

Some of the crowd listening to the speeches
Some of the crowd listening to the speeches

Another shot of the crowd listening to the speeches
Another shot of the crowd listening to the speeches

Football scarf
Football scarf

Football Jersey
Football Jersey

Some of the speakers
Some of the speakers







From the Mailbox - Camera pan of the right hand side of crowd
From the Mailbox - Camera pan of the right hand side of crowd

Younger students
Younger students


About one hundred and fifty people (a good number of them students) picketed the BBC Mailbox in Birmingham on Saturday Besides the usual smattering of 'political suspects' many students articulated their thoughts on the matter from the PA provided by the organizers A letter of protest was handed into BBC Management The effectiveness of its writ and purpose was lost on me! Though we were told one of the Senior Managers had come out and was standing behind the speaker Might have been better if the BBC Mailbox staff had come out on strike But "what’s the chance’s of that happening mmm"

Photo copyright Stalingrad O'Neill - permission is required for third party usage

Stalingrad O'Neill
- e-mail: robograd@tiscali.co.uk

Additions

Welcome to Birmingham: a city stifled by Lightning Conductors

04.02.2009 11:22

Yet another symbolic and ineffective protest, staged in order to promote this city's political opportunists.

Meanwhile in the rest of the country, people took effective direct action and occupied their corporate media outlets and even projected the Gaza appeal onto bbc broadcasting house offices.

BBC offices occupied in Manchester - v.brief early report -  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/420463.html

BBC occupied in London -  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/420397.html

Activists shut down BBC Cardiff with superglue -  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/oxford/2008/12/416434.html?c=on

Gaza Appeal Projected onto BBC Broadcasting House -  http://london.indymedia.org.uk/articles/601

direct action gets results

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

Ooooooo hark at number 1

04.02.2009 10:39

someone with amnesia's got their knickers in a twist

sgwyther

Don't rain on the demo

05.02.2009 15:30

I somewhat share the concerns of whether peaceful indirect action is worthwhile but don't trample on the attempt! To a degree, whether Salma Yacoob (Respect councillor) and others are using the platform for their own ends is not relevant - the fact is that there was about 100-150 people who turned up in the freezing cold to protest for an hour and a half. The demo embraced young people and encouraged them to speak at the microphone - and the presence outside the Mailbox provided solidarity to the BBC workers in Birmingham angered by the (national management) decision. Don't forget that most people there were making an honest attempt at protest - sniping at them achieves nothing but disunity.

For what it's worth I am aware of criticism of Respect et al for dissuading people from direct action, but my honest assessment of Salma Yacoob is that her passion and anger on the Gaza issue is completely genuine. Perhaps the "diversity of tactics" slogan needs to work both ways - direct action folks do their thing, and peaceful demonstrators do theirs?

Jon