Posted on 11/21/2003 6:11:48 AM PST by .cnI redruM
The Demo 1
Got to give those British protesters credit for this: They sure make their loyalties clear. First they build an effigy of George Bush that equates the leader of American democracy with Saddam Hussein. Then they parody the liberation of Baghdad by pulling their effigy down and stomping on it. Finally, to underscore the point, after the effigy-stomping, they invite to the podium to speak – George Galloway! The British MP accused of accepting some $300,000 in stipends from Saddam himself!
The Demo 2
The organizers of the protest installed a mobile jumbotron at the front of the square. On it, images of the speakers were interspersed with herky-jerky art-school style film clips. Just before the toppling of the effigy – and in order to work up the crowd into a more frenzied mood of rage and hate – the jumbotron broadcast images of George Bush, stepping out of his limousine into Buckingham Palace and standing at attention at the welcome ceremony. Now here’s the interesting thing: Whenever Bush appeared, there appeared superimposed upon him crosshairs – like those of a sniper’s rifle. I wonder what the organizers meant by that?
The Demo 3
The most striking thing about the demo, though, was that it was a relatively small and comparatively listless one – much less energetic, for example, than the march to Hyde Park I witnessed in October 2002. One reason for the difference was that this time Britain’s Muslim groups largely stayed home: This was a march of old-time lefties and ex-hippies. Although the Muslim Association of Britain cosponsored the march, and even served a little post-Ramadan snack at sunset to the marchers, the chanting throngs of Muslim radicals from up north who had thickened last year’s demos were notably absent.
The Demo 4
Absent too was all but the most perfunctory statement of concern and grief for the British citizens murdered in Istanbul earlier that day. And when I asked members of the crowd for their reaction, the response was unanimous: “I condemn the killing, but you have to understand ….” Yes, but – the slogan of the terrorists’ apologists and fellow-travelers in West and East.
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