Wednesday, August 02, 2006

So I wandered into a protest in Trafalgar Sq…calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East…and I stayed for the chanting…

“Free, Free Lebanon!”

“Free, Free Palestine!”

It always amuses me how everyone comes out of the woodwork for these protests…there’s always someone there trying to flog the Socialist News…

I also don’t think people at these things do their cause any favours by leaping to the extremes…rhetoric about sending Blair to The Hague (Followed by as big a cheer as there was…) makes it too easy for the rest of their message to be ignored…

I was interested in how many Hezbollah flags were being flown…I wondered what the majority consensus on their activities was…

I was glad I was there to lend my voice to the ceasefire calls but I don’t think we were exactly making a lot of difference. Having said that, my feelings on the matter are that just because a group of people in central London listening to speeches, poems and songs won’t really make much of an impact on the grand scheme of things doesn’t mean that you don’t have your say…I think it’s important to stand in solidarity and point out injustice even if no-one listens…

Tony Blair has consistently disappointed me. I thought there was some hope for Britain this time around…when Kim Howells visited the Middle East and talked about how disproportionate the Israeli response had been I thought maybe the Government would start saying the things that I felt were desperately needing said by someone that had a credible voice (Sorry Kofi but sometimes I think that you may as well be at a protest at the foot of Nelson’s Column yourself for all any of the big players listen to you…). BUT that wasn’t to be and Blair has said little, that I have heard at least, that wavers from the American line…eventually, once they have given Israel a good bit of time and space to hammer Hezbollah (And we’re really sorry Lebanon but you have to understand…you are in the way…what’s a guy to do!?!) they will call for a ceasefire and they will get one…eventually…

Bush and Blair reckon they have a way forward that might be lasting. I can’t help but doubt it…I guess I don’t feel like their administrations have at any point shown the imagination, the nuance or the statesmanship to come up with something that promising…

I watched a show on Channel 4 two evenings ago called Judah & Mohammed…it was a look at the lives of one Israeli teenager and one Palestinian guy…man it was depressing viewing…so much hatred…so few obvious answers…

I always feel like I am playing catch up as far as the story of Israel and Palestine goes…and the more I learn the more complex and disturbing a problem it becomes.

1 comment:

Korrena said...

Hey Mark, it has been a long time since I chatted to you...possibly because of the rather large geographical gap that is currently between us! I'm enjoying your blog - it's cool to see one that actually has some substance(I unfortunately can't make that claim!). Hope all's well with you.

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