h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

At the previous march I went on in November '01 one of the speakers talked (shouted) about 'fighting for Peace'.

Yeah right.

B

That reminds me of an announcement I once heard at school: "WANT TO STUFF YOURSELF SILLY AND HELP A REFUGEE FAMILY OVERSEAS?" (They were selling food for the benefit of refugees)

I was slightly apalled, but realized the product didn't matter

Marching can be very frustrating, I think. It's a big effort to organise, a considerable acheivement to get X number of people out on the streets, especially as diverse people as I imagined turned out for this one, and has no immediate effect.

I think overall it depends on whther the marchers are just salving their consceice/expressing their irritation with this one act or whether they will then go home and contiue the pressure. Like you say, wearing badges is not enough, sort of thing.

The Jubilee 2000 campaign was as sucessful as it was (and people could argue the toss over that one) because in addition to a number of marches over a fairly long period of time, all sorts of other low-grade bit contiuous pressure was kept up. Otherwise it might be easy for Thise Whom We Would like to Influence to grit teeth and ride out the storm. I think it was a while after 2000 that the campaign got any kind of result.

Still, I'm glad you went, Ben.

Hi Ben, I sure do hope you're there and monitoring this post. We here on this side of the pond need your help in any way at all urgently. Please see the info at the following thread and please, if you agree, as I hope you will, act:

F19585?thread=249950

It is a crime, please act, now, even if you are not in the US. Please.

Hey up Ben,

just read your article and have a very different perspective to your good self.

I've been a bit of a one woman rent a mob in the past couple of years, and have attended peace protests regularly. To declare an interest, I've also marched with protesters to free Tibet, against sweatshops in the fashion trade, against the arms trade, on Mayday anti-capitalist events I've dressed as a 'fairy for fair trade' and numerous protests to promote peace, not war.

In fact - remember how we met about 18 mth ago opposite Downing Street for the CND demo against a violent and counter-productive reaction to 9/11? That was a very quiet, almost silent demo, with just a few hundred peaceniks, dressed in black and quietly speculating amongst ourselves how many brown people would have to die till 'revenge' was done.

Since then a lot of Afghan civilians have been killed, Bin Laden has remained free, terrorism and the threat and fear of terrorism grow, and in a few weeks a lot of Iraqis will die.

War is not the answer, the answer is at least 42 internationally implemented civilised policies to increase peace, justice and security in our world. But thats not a simple answer, so Bush has gone instead for the flash bang cowboy fix. Which we beleive will cause more voilence than it will prevent/pre-empt.

I find it heartening though that there are more than a million people prepared to get out on the streets to voice this objection. I missed all the speaches, but lets face it they are usually sh*te, and I've heard it al from Mr Galloway before. (Did u see his 'no war' bus on a December protest at Parliament? Twas almost as embarrasing as Miss Dynamite-tee-hee's dreadful song at the Brits...)

However...

I shuffled for 5 hours with approx 1.25 million people in London, which took me from the strand to the park. The crowd was huge, it felt like a lot of people, more than I've ever seen as one. You could hear people instead of cars in the streets. I really got a feel for the size because of the dozens of freinds in touch by calls and txt.

Its f*kin massive, we'll never get to Big Ben for noon... I'm at Green Park, where are u? *still on Embankment!* Its mad, its huge, we r shufflin along - ETA big ben 1.30... Whr r u? Demo is enormous...LDN pkd, wkd! See u inthe park? ITS MASSIVE Cu at Big Ben at 3? etc etc...

The variety of homemade banners also gave an insight to the crowd, from 'F*ck of Blair u warmaker' to 'the only bush I'll trust is my own' and my favourite, a banner that said NO on the front, and had a list on the back of ten reasons why not - such as war will increase terrorism, that the innocent will die, that it will destabilise the middle east, and that we should be civilised, negotiate and develop alternative energy sources instead of taking our oil from thier soil.

When we finally got to hyde park it was freezing cold, and getting dark. Me and most of my freinds all finally caught up and shared our stories and txts and food. Then we gathered around one of the dozens of fires that were lit. It was so special to just congregate there, in the light and warm from the fire, magic little circles of smiling and peace.

"It was so special to just congregate there, in the light and warm from the fire, magic little circles of smiling and peace."

hey purplejenny, excellent!

I like Green Park; Hyde Park too, I just can't get over the fox I saw standing at the Park Lane gate at 5 am on a Jan morning in a very light snow fall.

ben where in the world have you gone off to?

Perhaps gone looking for some flannel sheets I'll warrant!

Bizzarely enough I have just ordered some jersey-cotton ones!

B

Ben, I've got the chillys ... how in the world did I read you like that!?! You're going to be soooo cozy and it is awful cold out there. Where did you get them from and who gets to share them???

I am ordering them from a catalogue - and they are for my (single) bed - so the only folks to share will be the kittens.

B

You sure are up late! Thanks for starting this thread, it is so restful and thoughtful.

The people at the "Opinions on War With Iraq" seem to have gone absolutely mad. There's talk about 'rightous anger' and 'fighting for peace.' Heavens help us, those are the words of our Comrades in Peace, from NZ!

What catalogue might that be, btw? L. L. Bean has some delightful offerings, just in case you want to have a look see!

A British catalogue - they are online at http://www.naturalcollection.com - they are the only place I know where I can get organic cotton bedding - and the cotton-jersey was the cheapest in the catalogue. They ususally have some wonderful cotton-linen mix bedding - but it is about 3x as expensive.

Ben

Hiya Ben dearie! I promise to look out for reasonably priced organic cotton sheets for you!

BTW, the other day, I heard something that provoked a lot of thinking; most of the best cotton comes from small farms run by small farmers all over the not so developed parts of the world (Egypt, India, etc.). These persons, most often, grow their product as their anscestors have done since the crop was first cultivated. They do not use additives and alternatives and such - can't afford it or have they've never heard of it (kind of like the Afghan civilians, who, before they were bombed, were asked if they knew what the World Trade Center was, and who, even when shown pictures, had no idea what the askers were on about!). Most importantly the farmers are not in a position to afford the certification of "organic" even if their product is that perforce. Think on it, eh?

The reason you may be paying so much is because of all the middle people (even well meaning ones) it went through from cultivation to your (single) bed! It's also a good idea to see if you can find the country of origin. Humm??

umm, getting back on subject now!!

Some of the signs carried by some of the protesters at
the recent peace marchs:

I'd rather my President MAKE LOVE - NOT WAR in the oval office.

Drunken frat boy drives country into ditch

Bush/Cheney: Malice in Blunderland

Let's bomb Texas, they have oil too.

How did our oil get under their sand?

If you can't pronounce it, don't bomb it.

Daddy, can I start the war now?

1000 points of light and one dim bulb.

Sacrifice our SUV's, not our children.

Preemptive impeachment.

No George, I said Mac Attack.

It's the stupid economy.

Stop the Bushit.

Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld: the asses of evil.

$1 billion a day to kill people -- what a bargain.

Consume -- Consume -- Bomb -- Bomb -- Consume --Consume

Disarm Bush too.

Big brother isn't coming -- he's already here.

Empires fall.

An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind
(Gandhi).

Impeach the squatters.

Mainstream white guys for peace. (Sign held by three
mainstream-looking white guys)

Hans Blix -- look over here.

Let Exxon send their own troops.

Destroy Florida. [It could happen again]

There's a terrorist behind every Bush.

We can't afford to rule the world.

War is so 20th century!

9-11-01: 15 Saudis, 0 Iraqis.

Drop Bush not bombs.

I asked for universal health care and all I got was
this lousy stealth bomber.

America's problems won't be solved in Iraq.

War is not a family value.

Colorfully dressed drag queen carrying a sign that
says: I am the bomb.

Picture of the peace symbol: back by popular demand.

A picture of Bush with a red-stained upper lip: Got
blood?

A picture of Bush saying "Why should I care what the
American people think? They didn't vote for me."

A picture of Bush saying "Ask me about my lobotomy."

Beneath a picture of a menacing soldier pointing his
rifle/bayonet toward the viewer: Say it! One Nation under God. Say it!

What would Jesus bomb?

A village inTexas is still missing its idiot!

Good Evening Ben, we're almost at the weekend; isn't that fab!?! I sure do hope you're on right now.

Anyway, here's something I want to share, something to do as a follow up to the marches. Tell me what you think, okay?

... those of you who believe that military adventure, war, or colonialism are not, any of them, a good thing and especially if you happen to live outside the USA, here are three suggestions for you to act on:

1, work to make your governments remove US military bases from your countries; why you ask: there are so many US troops posted in so many countries it actually is a subtle form of virtual occupation.

2, ask your governments to repeal the visa waiver programs - even as an interim measure - between the US and each of your countries; why, again: so that each move is subject to scrutiny.

3, ask your banks to scrutinize and make the information available to the public on all flows of funds at or above $250,000; why, to follow the money of course.

I checked that catalogue. It has really special offerings but it so blooming expensive! Whew!!

Horribly expensive - but the only place I know where I can get organic cotton; and since 25% of the worlds' pesticides go on the cotton crop, it seems worth buying it if you can get it and if you can afford it. I was glad that the jersey ones were so much cheaper - though they are not cheap by any means.

B

Funnily enough, one of their catalogues came through the post this morning. I looked through it for a present for my man. I couldn't afford what he would like, though!