Stop the War … maybe next year, eh?

A few more pictures from last Saturday’s Stop the War march, nothing special…

Those interesting chaps from Neturei Karta modeling their latest Springtime leisureware collection

a somewhat dazed and confused Walter Wolfgang (Britain's oldest terror suspect?) wandering around in the mistaken belief that things will get soooo much better once his beloved Labour Party is in government

There’s a pretty accurate write-up of the feel of the event, complete with some typically distractive and grindingly tedious Left-wing infighting about George Galloway’s alleged homophobia in the comment section, over here

One of the biggest downers of the march was witnessing just how entwined Man Made Global Warming has become with Left Wing inactivism. The perverse belief that sidelining the very long list of genuine, proven crimes against the environment and subordinating them to one great big steaming pile of CO2 bullshit is somehow against multinational corporate interests appears to be depressingly widespread amongst political inactivists.

On the plus side, Lord Patel and some of his staff were attendance; dispensing stock market tips and signed photographs to the adoring masses. To be honest, that's the only reason why I bothered attending, even merely as a spectator

A few marches back, whilst listening to that hypocritical old fucker Tony Benn spouting away, I was struck by a powerful sense of déjà vu. I realised that I had stood in virtually the exact same spot in Trafalgar Square, listening to the same hypocritical old fucker spouting exactly the same old stuff, twenty-five years before

Only twenty-five years ago the people listening to that old fucker spout weren’t penned-in, monitored and manipulated to anything like the degree they are today

I’ve said this repeatedly to anyone who will listen to me but the only demonstration that came anywhere near to effecting change in government policy since 1997 has been the Fuel Protest of 2000; specifically because it featured an element of passive resistance

None of the Stop the War demonstrations, even the monster march before the invasion of Iraq, came anywhere near attempting anything like what was achieved by the fuel protestors

Coming down to London, noncing around with a placard for a few hours and then going home in time for tea and Pop Idol ain’t going to change anything. Viscount Tony and his pals know that but for some peculiar reason they keep on participating and supporting the same old ineffective rituals year after year

"You've all done very well. Now fuck off home and don't be a nuisance to anyone"

That’s not to say that the people who participate in those rituals are under any illusions. The handful of protesters I spoke with on Saturday acknowledged the impotence of what they were doing but participate anyway on the basis that it is at least something.

I’m not knocking their intentions but until things get a lot worse, people outside of the traditional, controlled Left-wing get involved and some pro-democracy (sic.) oligarch lays in a decent sound system and some nibbles so that people can stand their ground for a few days, these marches ain’t going to change dick

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