The disaffected: who were the anti-hunger strike counter demonstrators?

by jack london - np Sun May 21, 2006 17:03

Jack London called them 'People of the Abyss' in the Iron Heel a novel of social revolution and defeat and the consequent rise of the Oligarchy, in effect he predicted how societal forces would emerge to see the rise of the nazis thirty years before they did.

by justgettingby Sun May 21, 2006 22:25

If every foreign worker here and every asylum seeker went back to their places of origin tomorrow it would make no difference. If the government saved any money as a result it would go into their own back pockets and the pockets of their already wealthy friends. The unfortunate homeless and deprived people would not get a single cent of the proceeds - they would just get a different set of excuses for the fact they are poor, and they would still be treated like rubbish. It is almost as if the wealthy need someone to look down on and walk all over.

It suits the well-off in this country to have working class people and immigrants/asylum seekers divided amongst themselves rather than getting together to demand that the resources of the state (i.e. the money we P.A.Y.E. workers provide) were shared fairly for the benefit of all the people and not just creamed off into the inflated bank accounts of the rich.

by Samuel Murray Sun May 21, 2006 22:39

I used to think that "charity begins at home" was a piece of wise advice. It is not. It is an ironic statement about our inhumanity to people we don't know.

by - Mon May 22, 2006 03:04

There's a fine line between apologism and analysis. I think it's important to understand the underlying causes for the emergence of a fascist movement. But there's a difference between that and entering into apologetics for fascists and racists. I'm not sure if this article crosses the line. Ultimately a fascist is a fascist and should be oppossed fully, and without sympathy, regardless of their background.

by Take care Mon May 22, 2006 03:58

Be careful not to define people out of existence . The scouser actor Ricky Tomlinson (hope I got his name right, the fella on the "Royle Family") was raised in a fascist family and was a fascist in his early years. he became an active trade unionist and was jailed by the British Govt. on a conspiracy charge for flying pickets.

He is now an actor and seems to be an alright human being. There ar many other low profile eaxamples. Not once a fascist always a fascist. You got to work on how best to relate to these people to undermine their ideological commitment.

by iosaf Mon May 22, 2006 16:40

There are 2 things I'd like to add :-

I'm leaving a photo taken yesterday in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. the USAF attacked a "stronghold" of "Taliban". Reports of the dead vary from 70 to 80. Confirmed civilian (i.e. not "Taliban") deaths stands at 15. Wounded have filled the 3 remaining hospitals which serve the province with a population of just under 1 million. This is the province which predominantly speaks the Pashtu language and thus those who live there have less practical chance of migrating to neighbouring to Pakistan where an estimated 6 million of their fellow citizens have already gone since Mr Bush told us the war on Afghanistan had finished. We do not have reliable estimates for how many Afghanis have chosen to go westwards into Iran. We do know that USAF have attacked both frontiers over 30 times since the beginning of 2006 each time with civilian (i.e. not "Taliban" ) casualty rate of between 10% and 18%.

Of the 41 individuals who entered Saint Patrick's cathedral, all were born in Afghanistan.
The majority speak Farsi as their mother tongue, afterwards Urdu and then Pashtu.
8 were minors in the eyes of Irish law, that is to say 20%.
4 had had sufficient links to "Taliban" to merit the leaking of their "transparent" asylum application files (which were not asked for under any legislation and their leaking constitutes a criminal act) to the commercial press. That is to say 10%.
Of that 10% or 4 individuals - one's link to the "taliban" was a relative. another's link was "a statement of criminal acts committed during the war", the remaining two's (5%) links were as victims.

________________________________________________

At the worst part of the late Cold War Asian theatre, People's Republic of China used one of the most interesting tactics to exert its weight on Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories to protest at the proposed building of the last the dropping antennae on the frontier hills,
:- It opened its borders.

The colony could not absorb those who wished cross the isthmus from Canton. I read with interest the words of the President of Senegal this morning. He has had the wit to add conditions to the repatriation of his citizens from Spain and Europe. They are now averaging 1000 individuals detained at sea or on beaches a week. He will only accept them back, if Spain (& the EU) pay for irrigation, water, schools, hospitals &c.., Because Africa is desperate. Sad it is to tell you all, but the world is desperate.


I presume that amidst the "back slapping" of these last 48 hours, no-one has noticed nor thought to denounce the criminal act of leaking confidential applications & state security files to the press.
It is the second time in 6 months that Mc Dowell's department has done so. I notice @ least.

desperation in percentages

by Eugene Kiernan Mon May 22, 2006 20:02

I agree that most of the protestors have a drink or drug problem. I live in Kevin Strret and knew some of them from either selling or taking hard drugs. most of them are now dossers. sad, very sad.