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... for a spot of civil disobedience? 🙂
Probably best if I dont wear my Chalk-stripe suit next week eh? but I'll go and run-off some £50s on the photocopier just to be ready 🙂
Actually I think I'll miss the fun as Im going to be up for only Mon/Tues.
Ooh no, I don't like huge crowds. I've been caught up in a few demos that have turned nasty, and it's proper frightening. Bricks and lumps of concrete flying about, horses, truncheons, people getting proper battered. I've seen brutality that has left people permanently disabled. I don't want to be in the middle of that.
It seems that the authorities almost want people t riot, actually. Maybe, so's they can use public unrest to justify some new law they want brought in.
I mean, why have it in a place like London? Surely it would be far more sensible to hold it somewhere that can be more easily managed, in terms of security. What about on an aircraft carrier or something?
This one worries me. I'm all for demonstrating, and a bit of civil disobedience, but there is potential for some proper trouble, this time. And if it does kick off, I fear the outcome will be even more restrictions on our freedom, civil liberties and democratic rights.
i know a few who will be attending, and i have to say they seem very well prepared and rather keen to make a point.
Look out for the clowns!
No need to worry stoner, just put your snout back in the trough 🙂
A mate got spat on for being in a suit that last time something like this was in the burgh. Idiots.
LOL @ Mike
Still in my vestments, I walked down the steps to the roadside where I was accosted by a couple of thugs. “What the f*** are you doing for anti-capitalism, mate?” I was asked.“Only this,” I said, as I raised my right hand and started saying the Exorcism Service in Latin. The police were unprepared and outnumbered on that occasion and the City was left like a bomb site with more than £2m damage.
priceless.
What about on an aircraft carrier or something?
Lol!
The problem with rioting protests is that it completely loses the message and get most people against the protest. Shame really.
So it's only 'crusties' that can be concerned enough about climate change and Tibet to engage in some kind of direct action? Nice...
the real shame is the media stirring it up using an 8 yr old picture.
i wont be attending as i know that i will do more harm to the environment travelling up to town on my recycled bike, than i will effect change by killing several of the worlds 'leaders'.
This one worries me. I'm all for demonstrating, and a bit of civil disobedience, but there is potential for some proper trouble, this time. And if it does kick off, I fear the outcome will be even more restrictions on our freedom, civil liberties and democratic rights.
I'd agree on this, this demonstration/potential riot(delete as appropriate) is not helpful to civil liberties with the Authoritarian mindset that politicians currently have.
It would be a different matter if it was just the average taxpaying citizen who turned up to these protests instead a load of people with the potential to cause trouble.
But then again the average citizens have far more pressing concerns like their own individual survival in these times. Kind of makes you think we were made to operate like this as way to make us passive.
Who put "The Levellers are coming" as a tag?
😆
Are they playing at the Caymden Roundhouse?
frankly, if I was allowed to carry arms, I'd drop cash out the office window and shoot the human pigeons that picked it up.
These feral muppets should be pushed in the thames before a layer of burning oil is slapped on the top.
Who put "The Levellers are coming" as a tag?
😉
They got the guns but we got the numbers......
Of course, the vast majority of protestors will be ordinary, law-abiding citizens merely exercising their democratic right to protest, PK.
Seems like a lot of hysteria is being whipped up deliberately. And people are being sucked into it, as is evident here....
rudeboy, are you on medication,
either of you?
I wasn't going to go until I saw Stoner's reference to photocopying fifties - thinking about it now though. Haven't had any proper trouble since I pulled that idiot off his horse and broke his collarbone...well, "the fall broke his collarbone" was what my solicitor used to get me off. Are there any surefire ways to break plate glass? It's always been a problem.
Are there any surefire ways to break plate glass?
isnt it a bit of ceramic in a gloved hand, like if you broke a spark plug body? I thought scrotes used that to punch in car windows?
I do hope that anyone planning on protesting within the kilometre exclusion zone of Parliament has sought appropriate approval. Otherwise, they'll be sent to bed without their tea....
I thought scrotes used that to punch in car windows?
I reckon plate glass might be a little stronger than that...dunno, I've only ever done Porches, Bentleys, Rollers etc in previous protests, haven't really done the Starbucks/MacDonalds thing - didn't see the point in scaring the shoot out of staff inside who are already victims of the system.
Frankly, these scumbags are eroding my civil liberty and therefore I will happily kick one or more of them in the bell end
That's fightin' talk...[rings bell in the studio!]
Frankly, these scumbags are eroding my civil liberty
Who, the G20 leaders? You're right. They are. But they don't care what you think; you're expendable.
It's interesting that--RudeBoy apart--most people are prepared to accept the official construction of G20 direct action as that of radical, organized and violent groupings. It's even more interesting given that there was a thread yesterday highlighting the liberal media's silence around a right-wing MEPs attack on Gordon Brown. Seems to me that a similarly critical approach to the ways in which popular protest is represented in the liberal media might be appropriate here. Does anyone seriously buy the quasi-military language that's used? Describing climate change groups as 'commandos' and presenting the whole thing as a 'war' between protestors and police might make sense for a [u]very[/u] small minority, but that just serves to discredit the participation of large numbers of ordinary men and women in direct action because nothing else quite seems to work.
Just a thought.
The last time there were large volumes of ordinary women in direct action there was a tremendous lack of action from the government: namely the Countryside Alliance march and the Anti-war demonstration.
Maybe it's unsurprising that given the lack of an audience from the government that the language of protest is become more agressive.
It's interesting that--RudeBoy apart--most people are prepared to accept the official construction of G20 direct action as that of radical, organized and violent groupings. It's even more interesting given that there was a thread yesterday highlighting the liberal media's silence around a right-wing MEPs attack on Gordon Brown. Seems to me that a similarly critical approach to the ways in which popular protest is represented in the liberal media might be appropriate here. Does anyone seriously buy the quasi-military language that's used? Describing climate change groups as 'commandos' and presenting the whole thing as a 'war' between protestors and police might make sense for a very small minority, but that just serves to discredit the participation of large numbers of ordinary men and women in direct action because nothing else quite seems to work.
Its the age old game of demonizing your potential foe. The use of language and the hope of violent protest is to discredit any protest. The problem is that Governments are making it more difficult for ordinary people to protest and when they do it is ignored, so its no wonder that riots ensue.
The only time they want to hear from you is election time and only on the issues they bring to the table, Health, Education etc.
Stoner has hit on two interesting protests, the Countryside alliance over foxhunting, the Government did the right thing as the majority in this country don't want it, and the anti-war demos, the Government ignored this, but the feeling was the majority of people didn't want to be in Iraq either. What didn't help with the latter protest was voting the Government back in that took us into that conflict. I think we can blame that on weak opposition parties, but I'm sure that some in the Government took that as a bit of a green light on their justifications for conflict in Iraq.
Maybe it's unsurprising that given the lack of an audience from the government that the language of protest is become more agressive.
utter crap. the 'language of protest' is relatively moderate - check g-20meltdown.org for reference on that.
the reporting language of protest by a select area of the press has become more agressive because it attracts viewers, shifts papers and gets web hits.
The media won't be able to sell stories (and with them, advertising) on the basis of peaceful, reasonable action. But it can sell stories on the back of violence-porn - you know, the fetishistic analysis of violent confrontations between the state and its citizens that have to be covered in great detail. And for what purpose? Let's not pretend it has anything to do with balanced reporting.
Frankly, the people do need to show the state they won't take it lying down. And this state has become particularly obsessed with reducing the opportunity for criticism. It's likely that this conflict will produce some clashes between the state and its more hard-line critics....
I wont turn this into a foxhunting thread, we've had one of those recently, but just a reminder that democracy is there to protect the minority every bit as much as to act the will of the majority. When the minority is so large as it genuinely was in the case of the Countryside alliance, the government did not act democratically in imposing it's urban agenda on the rural population.
My point was to illustrate that two substantial protest gatherings reflecting massive national opinions were UTTERLY ignored by the government. Not even a gentle shift in policy in recognition of the scale of feeling. That kind of arrogance is going to really piss people off eventually.
I reckon plate glass might be a little stronger than that...dunno, I've only ever done Porches, Bentleys, Rollers etc in previous protests, haven't really done the Starbucks/MacDonalds thing - didn't see the point in scaring the shoot out of staff inside who are already victims of the system.
The victims are those who own property you think it's OK to vandalise, not someone freely working in a fast food outlet.
Posts like this really demonstrate that some posters on here remain gloriously ignorant.
When the minority is so large as it genuinely was in the case of the Countryside alliance, the government did not act democratically in imposing it's urban agenda on the rural population.
But it was still a minority. Governments of all political persuasions have used their majority to push laws through since year dot. The government did act democratically, because the democratic system we use in this country says so. While I understand that governments are sometimes judged on how they treat their minorities, this is mostly not how they operate. Urban/rural is irrelevant.
That kind of arrogance is going to really piss people off eventually.
Well that has also happened since year dot, Poll tax riots and Thatcher spring to mind, I personally think that when the Tories come to power next that the foxhunting law will be overturned, so it won't be just those bad lefties ignoring the will of the people now will it?
The victims are those who own property you think it's OK to vandalise, not someone freely working in a fast food outlet.
Ah bollocks to that. Global Corporations, 'victims'???
I doubt very much that McDonalds ever gives a shit about it's workers. Tis but a minor inconvenience to them, to replace a few bits of glass. Hardly going to dent their profits. I feel for the poor sods working there, as they mustuv been terrified when loads of thugs started chucking paving slabs through the windows. As for other places, well, most buildings in the City were built with money gained through exploitation of poor people the World over, so hardly hardly the products of honest and fair trade.
I don't think smashing up property is at all productive. Don't solve owt.
Mass strikes; now that might make people sit up and listen...
I meant the victims are those who own cars that deadlydarcy thinks vandalising is OK.
I think working in somewhere like McDs or *$ seems to provide work for a load of people and they don't seem like forced labour or victims of a system to me, just people doing a job - last I saw they could move on to something else if they wanted to.
mass strikes have been shown to work in resolving economic issues before have they? please show me some evidence and also, what exactly is the issue you are proposing to strike over ?
But I do blame the “useful idiots”– as Stalin called the unthinking crowd which tags along with them
Is he refering to the christians of his parrish or the protestors?
Mass strikes would likely cripple the UK still further but I agree it would galvanise the authorities.
Don't you think that the anti-capitalist protestors will feel pretty justified this time? After all the economic mess that we are in is not some random occurence; the lack of regulation and outright greed of our largest financial corporations have got us into this mess.
I just wish I could come to work next week without fearing for my safety or having to camouflage myself in casual clothes.
won't macdonalds give you the day off?
At the individual level, people have over the last few years expected to be able to switch their credit card debts across to a different card at no interest. They have wanted loans to consolidate debt and those with savings have eschewed the regular banks for obscure Icelandic banks for an extra 1/2% per annum on pretty paltry amounts of savings.
The financial institutions have had to respond and accomodate the fickle nature of customers who expect everything interest free.
People talk about Goddwin's pension pot but don't mention the companies that pension pot will have invested in. They also don't mention how much income tax Goodwin has paid over the last decade and the fact he has been taken to the point he can never work again.
These are not anti-capitalist, most of the protestors are simply hopeful they can "enjoy" a riot.
I wonder if the critical mass people will be involved in this, it seems right up their alley
a few years ago i got caught up in the march thru the city by these protesters by accident, it all seemed quite peaceful and the naked protesters, of which there were many were quite entertaining
quite frankly when democratic elections offer you the choice between right wing big business toadying expense claiming torries and right wing big business toadying expense claiming nulabour
some sort of protest is the only answer
and as yossarian has pointed out surely the protesters have been proved right
its no longer just majority of the people on this planet that live in poverty that have been shafted by the capitalist masters of the universe but the rest of us too
quite frankly when democratic elections offer you the choice between right wing big business toadying expense claiming torries and right wing big business toadying expense claiming nulabour
some sort of protest is the only answer
Form your own party. Join another party and have an impact on it.
Mindless, premeditated rioting will solve nothing. In fact, it will serve only to exacerbate existing problems regarding civil liberties and freedom of expression, as it will be used to draft yet more laws against this.
Protest, by all means, but FFS get away from the pathetic "Stick it to the man, man!" types who are just doing it for a fight. Just as they do for so many other events, CM included, they totally detract from the real and genuine reasons for a protest.
As Stoner pointed out, both the CA and stop the war marches mobilised huge numbers in peacful protest. OK, so the govt didn't listen, but peaceful protest is still the only way, short of forming your own party.
i wouldnt mind going into politics but sadly i think my extra curricular activities would have me smacked down by the tabloids in a second
at no point did i say i was pro-rioting
and i suspect the majority of people attending arent there to riot just to demonstrate
tho when iraq and hunting demos prove that peaceful protest does nothing what can you do
[url= http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x236hb_rage-against-the-machine-sleep-now_music ]im with these guys[/url]
and i suspect the majority of people attending arent there to riot just to demonstrate
tho when iraq and hunting demos prove that peaceful protest does nothing what can you do
Very true indeed! What to do? I'm not sure, but I know that rioting isn't a solution.
Didn't mean to suggest that you had been pro-riot, by the way, just that the overall intent of many seems to be to riot!
but peaceful protest is still the only way
No; it's the most reasonable way in a democracy, and is often the best way, but it is by no means the [i]only[/i] way.
i also voted lib dem last time purely based on iraq as both other parties had the same kiss-ass approach to american warpigs
that got me nowhere either
All I'm saying is put away your Bentleys, Rollers, Porches (maybe even Audis and Beemers if they're the really pricey ones) 'cos I is coming with me bricks...actually someone's digging up some badly laid bricks in my backyard tomorrow, anyone know of somewhere I could trailer them to in the city and leave them as a stash in time for the march?
Flash how close are you mate? I'm offering good money for storage...you might be needing it after the recent share price crashes and I'm nothing short of charitable when it comes to it.
lol you is a child.
Deadlydarcy seems to have commited a crime? Incitment, conspiracy, threatening behavior? Is STW world now guilty for publising he intented actions. Am involved because I have read it.
Have I? Have I? Have I? Have I?
Hooray!!
Actually, the bricks have come up in surprisingly good condition so I'm holding on to them to build some raised beds in the garden. However, there's enough broken ones to fit into a small rucksack!
Darcy, there are more subtle effective ways than bricks through windows. Attacking cars is not the way. You may torch an Audi that is the property of an average worker whose passion, their pride and joy, is their motor. How is that fair? Attack a Starbucks? They are insured, they won't care. The only people you scare are the people you are standing up for. Minimum wage office workers wear suits. You want to scare the shits out of them? Use your brain, there are other ways. By all means gather and riot. You may have a good day out but the media will tear you apart.
I'm sure the place will be awash with the great unwashed. The O/T bill for the police will be huge.
Deadlydracy is cleary on the wind up.
What a bunch of arse. Peaceful protest fair enough; stopping me getting to work, or worse, is clearly the work of a bunch of ****ts.
Coyote - read what Ewan says. I am [b][i]cleary[/i][/b] {sic} on the wind-up...just poking a bit of fun at Stoner, Flash etc...surely what I was posting didn't sound like I really meant it did it? In fairness, I don't (think I) have a reputation for trolling but not many seemed to be coming out in favour of the protesters.
This is clearly not a forum for a balanced debate on the merits or not of direct action. Take a look at the tags people have added at the top? Shows what a bunch of middle class apathetic drones most of us are on this forum.
By the way Ewan, I do, on the other hand, hope there's plenty of disruption when the protests happen.
Well, it seems to be passing off without much incident, and 'Police Estimates' put the number of people attending at 35,000, so probbly at least double that (why do police ALWAYS deliberately lie about the numbers at demos?).
I think the hype surrounding this event was to discourage people to attend. Seems like the media have once again been manipulated to serve government interests. Still, does not in any way seem to have gone to plan; the demo is peacefull, tens of thousands have turned up, so the paranoia seems to be unfounded. Although I suspect we may see 'violent scenes' on our tellies tonight. I've no doubt the government have employed agent provocateurs, to stir up trouble. If it does kick off, the police will be very heavy handed, which will incite the crowd even more. usual tactics; I've seen several demos where everything's been peaceful, then police suddenly stop a march, and deny it's progression along the previously agreed route. This is deliberate, and done to anger people, and provoke them into responding. The police can use the ensuing violence to call for more powers to curb demonstrations.
There will be a very tiny minority of mindless thugs, who just want to smash things up. Unfortunately, it's these people who will **** it up for everyone else.
I hope it does not in any way kick off, because if it does, mark my words; there will follow even more erosion of our democratic right to protest.
Red Ken was questioning why the G20 meeting needed to be held in London at all. I can't see why, either. If there's such a risk of civil unrest, woon't it be better to hold it elsewhere, like on an aircraft carrier?
I think it's time to take our country back from the selfish bastards who have stolen it from us.
My boss, who is, like me, a particularly obnoxious form of loaded yuppie flange-monkey-tool, has announced his intention to smash up some cars and trash a bank. He is quite keen for me to join him.
The spectacle of rioting tax-evasion advisors torching Bentleys really will be something. 😉
Peaceful protest fair enough; stopping me getting to work, or worse, is clearly the work of a bunch of ****ts.
What a selfish thing to say. Many of those '****ts' are actually protesting against the massive increase in job losses. Yours included.
And quite frankly, stopping you from getting to work is utterly trivial, compared to the bigger picture out there. Pull yer head out, and stop thinking about yerself so much.
Or, instead of moaning,get active; do something to try and affect change. Use your democratic rights; /join/form a pressure group or something.
Don't just sit on yer arse with yer fingers in yer ears.