Who's going along to the G20 protests?
- Thread starter editor
- Start date
BBC biographical piece from 2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3331717.stm apparently she was a page 3 girl and a witch as well.
Biglittlefish
Active Member
Good luck guys and girls. Fingers crossed things go well.
For me this day is weird. A real sea-change in my attitude. I'll be honest and admit that even up until a year ago I would have been on the side of the Policeforce and even wanting them to crack a few heads.
And whilst I loathed New Labour with all my might I really did believe that ultimately the 'establishment', and I accept its a loose term, did actually provide the most stable enviroment for me and my family to live and grow.
But events of the last year in terms of not only the financial crisis but what caused it and how those who caused it have not only not been punished but have all walked away with a level of guaranteed wealth, through lumbering myself and everybody else in this country with tens of thousands of pounds of debt, that is beyond comprehension has shaken me to the core
And I find myself getting wound up by people saying that they are going to wear flowers in their hair and comply with the requests for peaceful protests because there is a part of me that wants to pull on my oldest pair of Timberland boots, don black jeans and dark jacket and then cover my face with a balaclava and be up there swinging with a baseball bat at those lines of robo-cops with their CCTV and Dogs and all the other paraphernalia that they seem to relish so much because it dehumanises them and just say a big 'fuck you' to all of it.
Now I believe in the free market. I believe that allowing people to be rewarded based on how hard, or how clever, they work is the right thing to do. But I also believe in consequences. And there seem to be none for those who have fucked up on such a massive scale that its beyond comprehension.
I have always belived more in the notion of human 'responsibilitys' than 'rights'. To me if you can go to the toilet unaided then you should be expected to stand on your own two feet and provide for yourself and your family. Never been a great patriot because ultimately its a daft concept but did have faith in the British system because I felt it had enough checks and balances to get more things right than it got wrong but not any longer.
As a Tory its easy for me to just blame New Labour because they really are cunts but looking at what we currently have looking to replace them, well it does not fill me with any confidence what so ever as they seem to be just a different side to the same coin.
So do what you have to do today. I dont think it will change anything but so what ?
And whilst I loathed New Labour with all my might I really did believe that ultimately the 'establishment', and I accept its a loose term, did actually provide the most stable enviroment for me and my family to live and grow.
But events of the last year in terms of not only the financial crisis but what caused it and how those who caused it have not only not been punished but have all walked away with a level of guaranteed wealth, through lumbering myself and everybody else in this country with tens of thousands of pounds of debt, that is beyond comprehension has shaken me to the core
And I find myself getting wound up by people saying that they are going to wear flowers in their hair and comply with the requests for peaceful protests because there is a part of me that wants to pull on my oldest pair of Timberland boots, don black jeans and dark jacket and then cover my face with a balaclava and be up there swinging with a baseball bat at those lines of robo-cops with their CCTV and Dogs and all the other paraphernalia that they seem to relish so much because it dehumanises them and just say a big 'fuck you' to all of it.
Now I believe in the free market. I believe that allowing people to be rewarded based on how hard, or how clever, they work is the right thing to do. But I also believe in consequences. And there seem to be none for those who have fucked up on such a massive scale that its beyond comprehension.
I have always belived more in the notion of human 'responsibilitys' than 'rights'. To me if you can go to the toilet unaided then you should be expected to stand on your own two feet and provide for yourself and your family. Never been a great patriot because ultimately its a daft concept but did have faith in the British system because I felt it had enough checks and balances to get more things right than it got wrong but not any longer.
As a Tory its easy for me to just blame New Labour because they really are cunts but looking at what we currently have looking to replace them, well it does not fill me with any confidence what so ever as they seem to be just a different side to the same coin.
So do what you have to do today. I dont think it will change anything but so what ?
QueenOfGoths
Fuck you Dave!
Good luck everyone today - stay safe and look forward to reading about how you all got on 
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
stay safe all, and keep ya cameras close.
Interesting and honest post that, Stoat Boy. 
I'm almost in the opposite position. When I started posting here I was an old-school Marxist. I kept a sense of injustice, a dislike of the consensus that's dominated British politics (and those of most of the developed world) and a scepticism about the supposed wonders of the modern economy, but I long ago lost faith in a lot of the solutions to it coming from the old left and found myself drifting slowly in a more liberal direction, principally because I couldn't see what the alternatives might be.
For me, the onset of a serious recession was a reminder that all is not well, that much of the old left critique of capitalism retains all of its force and that sitting back and accepting the situation just isn't an option. It made me angry again, in a way I've not been in years, and I still am.
I still don't know what the alternative to the current set-up might be, but I'm certain it doesn't lie in a lot of what's going to be discussed at the G20 today and tomorrow, and that we do need a radical rethink of how the world is run on all sorts of levels. I think that's something that's becoming more and more common. Whilst the economy seemed to be ticking along nicely it was easy for those of us in the prosperous west to ignore grinding poverty elsewhere, the spiralling debt burden and a small numebr of people becoming very rich indeed at the expense of others. I can't ignore it any more, and I don't think a lot of other people can either.
I can't go on the demo today but I'd certainly like to. I don't believe a ruck would serve anyone's interests except those who'd like to see the (absolutely fundamental) right to protest circumscribed even more tightly than it already is. In the end, in a battle between the forces of the state and a few hundred unarmed demonstrators, there'll only ever be one winner. I do hope, though, that there's a huge turnout and that the point is made with peaceful force that we cannot just sit back and trust a few of the world's most powerful people to run things in the best interests of us all. Something's got to change, and soon.
I'm almost in the opposite position. When I started posting here I was an old-school Marxist. I kept a sense of injustice, a dislike of the consensus that's dominated British politics (and those of most of the developed world) and a scepticism about the supposed wonders of the modern economy, but I long ago lost faith in a lot of the solutions to it coming from the old left and found myself drifting slowly in a more liberal direction, principally because I couldn't see what the alternatives might be.
For me, the onset of a serious recession was a reminder that all is not well, that much of the old left critique of capitalism retains all of its force and that sitting back and accepting the situation just isn't an option. It made me angry again, in a way I've not been in years, and I still am.
I still don't know what the alternative to the current set-up might be, but I'm certain it doesn't lie in a lot of what's going to be discussed at the G20 today and tomorrow, and that we do need a radical rethink of how the world is run on all sorts of levels. I think that's something that's becoming more and more common. Whilst the economy seemed to be ticking along nicely it was easy for those of us in the prosperous west to ignore grinding poverty elsewhere, the spiralling debt burden and a small numebr of people becoming very rich indeed at the expense of others. I can't ignore it any more, and I don't think a lot of other people can either.
I can't go on the demo today but I'd certainly like to. I don't believe a ruck would serve anyone's interests except those who'd like to see the (absolutely fundamental) right to protest circumscribed even more tightly than it already is. In the end, in a battle between the forces of the state and a few hundred unarmed demonstrators, there'll only ever be one winner. I do hope, though, that there's a huge turnout and that the point is made with peaceful force that we cannot just sit back and trust a few of the world's most powerful people to run things in the best interests of us all. Something's got to change, and soon.
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
Cops are out and about early doors, vanload up by the foundry ffs, fit squad and van at earl street, barriers being erected outside rbs on bishopsgate along with ~20-30 plod. sirens fill the air in the background. city police looking especially jumpy (as always).
suns is shining though, so look after yourselves lads and lassies, should be an interesting day today
suns is shining though, so look after yourselves lads and lassies, should be an interesting day today
cesare
shady's dreams ♥
Each one I've tried seems to be unoperational at the moment. Funny, that.
pinkychukkles
Feed Your Head
Got a summary of any useful twitter feeds?
pinkychukkles
Feed Your Head
OK ta - the power of the search function.
Treacle Toes
Time
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
live-ish update - threadneedle st its kicking off with riot cops up for a fight, climate change on bishopsgate looking good and peaceful atm with samba band laying down some rhythms of resistance and stw march pretty quiet by comparison apparently.
All that matters is she cares. See those protestors, they care. See those smashing windows, they care.
Awesome paulie
Six o'clock and the climate camp is a lovely place to hang out. Took some interesting video earlie of cops with 'medic' written on their backs, beating people with telescopic truncheons. Oh, and the rbs windows getting smashed, people running inside only to find police with pepper spray got there first.
xes
F.O.A.D
are you suggesting the police were already inside the bank?* Maybe the went in the back when they started smashing the window. Maybe they "knew" it was goingto happen
*of course, I'm probably putting words into your mouth
Similar threads
- Poll
