We knew that a city as large as ours would never truly be safe but probably never believed it would happen. Just like we believe we'll never get ill and when we do often that which has no face is what destroys us. However unlike these 'terrorists' and 'barbarians' our nation's faces, colourful and diverse have been worn by our 'leaders' across the globe as they kill, rape, plunder and pillage in our name. We must be outraged by what has happened but we must also be outraged by the atrocities committed under the flag of British democracy. THEY have ensured that we do NOT remain anonymous but instead have become sitting ducks waiting to be literally blasted out of the water. Grief is a terrible emotion, one that eats away at your very being and we become more and more angry as we search for someone or something to blame, as we search for answers. But as we mourn for those lost in Thursday's tragic events lest us not forget we are a nation that searches for the truth, a nation that seldom allows itself to be wooed by grand politic rhetoric, nor do we as the public tolerate bullshit! Instead we demand the facts, the figures, the statistics. We demand the cold hard truth! Now as the recent bombings have impacted us on here, on home soil let us do as we always have and root out the truth rather than allowing our anger and our fear to influence our judgement.

Even whilst London's wounded were still arriving at hospital the mass media circus was already in full swing and all across the board reporters and news presenters were finding it increasingly hard to stop themselves from speculating about the day's events. "it has all the hallmarks of al-qaeeda", " organised and coordinated like islamist terror groups". Frightened workers were sent home from work to spend an anxious afternoon in front of back to back news specials in search of the facts surrounding the events that took the nation's capital from an initial power cut/engineering problem to reports of seven bombs and over 50 dead. We CANNOT allow the mass media to cloud our judgement, regardless of how angry we are. The extended news specials and the press have already soaked the hands of Islam in the blood of Thursday's victims WITHOUT ANY PROOF. Guaranteed those who braved travelling to work today were not as friendly with their local shopkeeper as they picked up their newspaper and cigarettes. Whilst Thursday's bombs did not discriminate we unfortunately often do, based upon the mass media created stereotypes that reside in our minds ie: terrorist = Arab/Asian/Irish/Indian/Pakistani/Muslim/Bearded/Brown-skinned or Drug Dealer = Black man with nice clothes/fast car/loud music/dreadlocked/cannibis smoker or Thug = youths wearing hoods/caps/trainers. Even Tony himself, two hours later STILL at Gleneagles, was responsible for planting the seeds of hate in the minds of his fearful population as he stated: "It's important, however, that those engaged in terrorism realize that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world" Meanwhile London's Mayor attempted to be diplomatic "It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever". However if the bush/blair campaign for world domination has not already polarised large sections of British society then unfortunately the worse is yet to come! Today saw tabloids and broadsheets alike splattered with the same call to arms and the same assumptions; The Daily Telegraph: "Al Qa'eda brings terror to the heart of London", The Guardian: "Al-Qaida cell claims responsibility", The Star "BASTARDS", The Times "52 killed, hundreds hurt in 'al-Qaeda' attack". Have our minds already been made up?

We must not follow the model of Tony's greatest ally and allow ourselves to get caught up in the similar misplaced patriotism that materialised after 9/11 in the USA. The fact we have become victims doesn't make us any more British. We shouldn't have to wait for an act as horrific as this before we start feeling we belong in Britain. Do we have to wait until we're being threatened? If you didn't feel British before Thursday's bombing what has changed since ? The news tells us the bombing is an attempt to divide our community - how united were we before? If the system that surrounds us did not accept you before will it accept you now if you choose to support it's campaign for vengeance? Surely nationality is a birthright and not something we should have to prove we deserve by supporting the national team or supporting those given the privelege of governing us! Will you give up all which you've stood for because you're afraid? It is no secret that the United States is a country governed by fear, will WE now also support those promising to guarantee OUR safety and security? We've fought in the streets against the war in Iraq, campaigned against racism, stood up in Scotland shouting f**k the G8, and f**k the minstrels of the court bolstering their music careers - do we now lay down and give up our fight to fight on the side of the system? NOT IN MY NAME! We must NOT give up our fight and allow these bombings to become a smokescreen which hides a leader who ignores the rest of the world, who ignores those institutions in place to guarantee human rights, who listens more to his mate George than he does to his own people, a leader who has still not apologised for dragging his country into an illegal war, a leader on the verge of being ousted by his own party, a leader who needs us more than we need him.

We are also in grave danger of following GW's example by keeping the troops in Iraq even longer and continuing the campaign of legal terror, death and destruction which is currently in full effect. This event just over a day old has already taken it's place in history how we deal with it is now of utmost importance. Will Tony offer the rabble baying for blood more war as a response? Unfortunately further resort to violence is again looming on the horizon. Since the onslaught of the 'war on terror' terrorism has increased: quite simply hate begets hate and increased violence against some faceless enemy will not protect us but on the contrary further endanger our lives. We have been made to hate entire nations, cultures and religions without just cause and consequently they hate us right back! We force our system of government, our way of life, our retail outlets upon people without giving them a choice and we call it 'liberation' and when others do the same we call it 'extremism'. How do you tell sweat shop slaves producing the goods we are itching to buy on payday not to hate us? Or an AIDS victim who will never afford the drugs? Are they really jealous of our freedom?

Freedom is a word we hear everyday, so much so that other countries and cultures different to our own are portrayed as oppressive, if we are free then are these people described as so different to us captives? Since 9/11 the George and Tony worldwide installation of democracy has meant increased violations of our own civil liberties here at home. From ID cards to oyster cards to ASBOs, CCTV on every corner, a revolving door prison system caught in no man's land between being tough on crime and rehabilitation. A country so expensive we are chained to the workplace. Our own British citizens are still locked in Belmarsh without charge. Will more of us become enemy combatants? Freedom is indeed in short supply. How ironic our love of reality TV as we become the watched! Over the coming months as the search ensues for the perpetrators of this crime people of colour, brown skinned, whether wearing a freedom fighter scarf or a Man United shirt will be tarred with the same brush, will suffer the same weary looks from commuters, same jokes from school kids, same heavy handed treatment from the police FORCE. The quest for justice will not have time to find out how British you think you are, how British you feel - just another suspect.

The future is indeed bleak and now is not the time to sit on the fence waiting to be kicked off. Waiting for the media to tell you who to hate, to tell you who our enemy is. Many of us have already know what it feels like to be treated as enemies of the state, made to feel like criminals, marginalised, on the outskirts of society. Let us not treat our fellow human beings as terrorists because they fit the media's description. And at the same time we cannot continue to support our country's campaign of 'legal' terror on the rest of the globe because we've been hurt. We must learn lessons from recent years and find the truth which is often shielded by cnn and fox news - seek out the truth on the internet, in the alternative press and most importantly; MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND!