I was watching CNN this morning and the big story was the G-20 meeting in London. Apparently, the Trots and the anarchists have been planning for a while to disrupt the event. (As an aside, can the words "anarchrists" and "planning" really be in the same sentance) They are trying today to shut down "The City" -- London's equivilant of Wall Street, and seem to have been successful. I know I get in trouble for my jokes about left wing demonstrations devolving into an excuse to trash a Starbucks, but while so far it seems mostly peaceful, there was some trashing going on. But that seemed to be street theater, with more photographers than protestors, and the protestors giving the photographers tips on the best camera angles. No word on what gift the President gave Queen Elizabeth. At the news conference with PM Brown, the President did say he was making no comments on European football (I missed the question).
Re: G-20 In London -- Sumits, protests, meetings and songs! These people should seriously kill themselves.
I really don't get the anarchists. I heard on the radio they were chanting "Death to Money" or "Abolish Money" this morning in London. WTF?
Yeah, well... some of them have obviously got one wheel in the sand. Having said that you can understand people's irritation at the current debacle. TBH I don't think it's simply a matter of anarchists and other assorted loonies. There are 'normal ' people there too complaining about the current recession and whose fault it is. I don't think you have to be an anarchist to feel aggrieved.
Well, of course not, i'm ticked off as well that my house value has gone down and the bank reduced the equity line out of the blue. We're just saying how a big chunk of this crowd are people who probably have no clue about the economy in general and just have another reason to demonstrate.
I'd say that the vast majority of people don't have an extensive economic knowledge but they know who is blame and are quite right to protest about it. As always at these things it's a small minority who stir things up and cause the violence to start which is a shame because it distracts the majority of the media from the real issue and tars the entire protest with the same brush.
Sure they were organized. I am sure they were bused in. I am also sure there was under 5 thousand of them. I am sure they were paid to do that. Big deal Is it true someone set himself on fire? He must of got extra for doing that. Too bad I missed it. Much more fun then seeing marsh mellows toasted.
True, but it's not the normal people who think "protest" equates to hurling a traffic sign through the window of Carphone Warehouse. Sometimes when you see big protests, such as the Poll Tax riots of a few years back, you can kind of "get it", as you can sense a genuine grievence. With this G20 lot, you just feel they just want an excuse to smash stuff up with no actual objective beyond that. I remember a few years back working with a guy who claimed to be an anarchist, along with his girlfriend. She worked for the local council. He got put on to the idea of selling investment schemes by a friend, and went from "all laws should be scrapped, all cars should be banned, and we all should live a life of only eating what you kill or grow yourself" etc to "I want a Porsche" overnight. ps, no he never got the Porsche. I don't think he sold a single scheme. And his girlfriend left him for the singer of his favourite local band, and they kicked him out of his house and changed the locks.
Do these fools realize the opportunity they have? What the "anarchists" should be protesting is for the system to remain exactly as it is with NO changes. Then they may see their wishes come true. Remember: when your enemy is in the process of committing suicide -- don't interfere! Protest in favor of letting businessmen, bankers and financiers around the world go hog-wild with no regulation or oversight and then stand back and watch the whole system collapse. American anarchists in particuar should get their act together. They should register as Republicans and back the party's talking points about no stimulus packages and no government interference in the business sector. They should be denouncing Democratic efforts to punch the economy up. They should go all out for cutting taxes to the bone. They should support letting the system just work itself out. Fully back "business as usual" -- indeed, demand a return to "rugged individualism"! The anarchists should be smart enough to understand that the biggest -- and frankly ONLY -- threat to the capitalist system are the business and financial elite that got us into this mess to begin with. They are doing the job no anarchist could ever hope to achieve. The anarchists should be praising those clowns instead of protesting against them and trying to stop them from self-destruction.
Re: G-20 In London -- Sumits, protests, meetings and songs! I'd settle for them just to take a shower.
The American anarchist is in England. He is spending us into oblivian. The country will fall without a single shot being fired.
Let's put this into perspective: 2009: During the worst economic crisis since the great depression, a mere 35,000 protesters, some of which are radical anarchists, gather in London, one of the centers of world finance and hence a perfect scape goat. 2002: 400,000 people gather in london in order to protest against the ban on fox hunting.
I just don't think G-20 accomplished much regarding the current economic crisis despite Wall Street rewarding it. Turned out to be more of a PR campaign than any substance.
I've always thought that you could take any unverifiable report of crowd numbers and divide by five, and you'd still probably be too high.