I came into Brussels this morning from Germany to join the European protests against Bush's international policies.
‘Bush NOT welcome’ is the sign that sits in the window of the building where the indymedia centre Belgium is set up. It has been four years since Bush was last here and that was before 9/11. Now the security is much tighter, in fact, Brussels has never seen such a large security operation before. Not only Bush is here, there is also a NATO meeting and an EU summit. I arrived from Germany this morning. Germany is hosting Bush tomorrow in Mainz, a small, sleepy town close to a US Army base. The whole city has practically been shut down. Thousands of workers will not be able to produce cars and champagne in this city because they can’t travel to work. They have to work on Saturday instead. The autobahn will be closed for a while as well.
Reading a German paper on the train made me realize how quickly the mainstream media forgets. Only two years ago, papers here were quite critical of the US hegemony, but now there is talk of the Atlantic partnership between the super power and a strong Europe, giving Bush a second chance now that his policies have change dramatically … what happened??? Did I miss something? Two years ago, Bush and others from his administration were charged with war crimes in Belgium until Bush pushed the Belgian government to change their laws in order not to allow for such court cases. I can’t help but think of the outcry that is right now shaking Germany over a child murderer who has just killed a nine year old boy after being released from prison. He had been convicted of killing a little boy ten years ago. Now people are calling for tougher laws that do not let criminals get away with re-offending. How about Bush then? Are we willing to forgive him for mass murder, torture and other human rights violations? Don’t we see the signs on the wall already that he will re-offend?
Anyways, I am off to join the protests this afternoon. There are pictures and stories on the Belgian sites about the actions that have been going on since Sunday. Today there are actions across the country converging at 3 pm at a demonstration in front of the EU Commission. More info on
www.motherearth.org/bushwanted
www.stopusa.be/campaigns/BushBxl
www.bushinmainz.de
Reading a German paper on the train made me realize how quickly the mainstream media forgets. Only two years ago, papers here were quite critical of the US hegemony, but now there is talk of the Atlantic partnership between the super power and a strong Europe, giving Bush a second chance now that his policies have change dramatically … what happened??? Did I miss something? Two years ago, Bush and others from his administration were charged with war crimes in Belgium until Bush pushed the Belgian government to change their laws in order not to allow for such court cases. I can’t help but think of the outcry that is right now shaking Germany over a child murderer who has just killed a nine year old boy after being released from prison. He had been convicted of killing a little boy ten years ago. Now people are calling for tougher laws that do not let criminals get away with re-offending. How about Bush then? Are we willing to forgive him for mass murder, torture and other human rights violations? Don’t we see the signs on the wall already that he will re-offend?
Anyways, I am off to join the protests this afternoon. There are pictures and stories on the Belgian sites about the actions that have been going on since Sunday. Today there are actions across the country converging at 3 pm at a demonstration in front of the EU Commission. More info on
www.motherearth.org/bushwanted
www.stopusa.be/campaigns/BushBxl
www.bushinmainz.de