Posted on 04/01/2003 1:16:16 PM PST by miltonim
The Anglo-US invasion of Iraq has changed the world's perception of the UK Or has it? We asked people in 21 countries - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe - what comes to mind when they think of Britain
Egypt
Abdallah El-Sayed, 55, taxi driver
You ask me what I think of Britain.
Let me tell you: these days when a foreigner flags me I will take them into the cab and then ask them where they are from.
If they say Britain or the United States I pull to the side and ask them to leave the car.
I am very polite; there is nothing personal about it.
For all I know they could be very nice people.
But how can I take money from them, drive them where they want and act like everything is normal, when their governments are killing our people?
Everyone these days complains about the Americans but I tell them: you've forgotten your history.
Who occupied Egypt?
Who gave Palestine to the Israelis?
Who attacked us in '56?
It was the British, I tell you.
And the invasion of Iraq is just one more British aggression against the Arabs.
Hala Mahmoud, 25, manicurist
The British and the Americans fill me with fear.
Every day I see the images of the children in Iraq being killed and I tell you: I cannot understand these people.
Why are they undertaking such a terrible war?
Surely this talk of terrorism is nonsense; and is the control of Iraqi oil worth all those children's lives?
Nabil Shawkat, 50, correspondent for al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based satellite news network
My first thought would be that it is Britain that gave the world the concept of democratic government.
I lived in England for two years and I have great admiration for the British.
Yet I am amazed at the policies of Tony Blair and his alliance with the rightwing American administration.
However, I do believe that the schism between the Arab world and Europe, including Britain, is much less than that between the Arab world and the United States.
Australia
Glenn Maggs, 49, consultant
Familiar" is the word that comes to mind.
Growing up in Australia, we all sang God Save the Queen at school and a lot of the culture here is still British.
What I've noticed since I started visiting Britain is that in a lot of areas it's meant to be ahead of Australia, it's actually quite old-fashioned.
Government has a much larger role.
There's a dichotomy about whether it should identify with Europe or America, and I think the position that Tony Blair's taken over Iraq shows that.
He's almost turned himself into an American neo-conservative.
Helen Firman, 49, administrator
Small, old, quaint.
I used to think "stodgy food", but that seems to have improved.
Overall it's very conservative: I don't think you could become a successful British politician if you just came from nothing.
I was surprised at the position Britain took on Iraq because I think of the country as always playing by the rules, so I would have thought that they would have been much more likely to go the UN route.
Australia and America are much less bound by what's seen as the proper way of doing things, they just do what they think is right.
Bev Henderson, 59, fashion buyer
The countryside is beautiful, and I think of things like double-decker buses, and Harrods.
It's a bit like Melbourne on a bigger scale.
I think the weather's got a lot to do with the character: it's quite gloomy so you don't have that sunshiny personality.
France
Fred Leibowitz, 29, high-school maths teacher
I can't understand why papers like the Sun are so insulting about us but no one I know is tempted by tit-for-tat.
The kids I teach love the English, or should I say British? I was at the Paul McCartney concert here, 18,000 people … a sell-out.
Perhaps old people want to cling to old sores like Joan of Arc.
Not the younger ones.
Let's see, we admire Shakespeare, Churchill, Ken Loach, the Stones, Monty Python ...Tony Blair?
He's Bush's lapdog now, isn't he?
That's not a French view.
I read that in the Guardian.
Sophie Brunet, 35, saleswoman
I've nothing to say.
The English don't interest me very much, nor does the war, nor does Tony whatshisname.
If the British don't like us, why do so many want to live here?
Marie-Christine Vaillant, 23, student
I spent a year in Southport as an au pair and liked everybody, even the old ladies in cardigans.
I even loved the food, especially Weetabix.
Hervé Moineau, 51, communications director
When I think of England I think of a style of living I admire: of cottages, beautiful lawns, sailing boats, horse riding and a love of domestic animals.
But now I am shocked by the moat that has suddenly appeared between the government and English people protesting on the street against involvement in a war that is also totally repulsive to me.
It makes me very uneasy about England.
Kosovo
Fatos Bytyci, 22, television employee
For me the UK means a country that wants to protect the people.
Take this war in Iraq, for example.
I compare it to our war here in Kosovo.
It's very similar.
Now I'm watching TV all the time and CNN and I see innocent people being killed by US and UK bombs and by Iraqi soldiers.
I don't like war.
I don't want war.
But the US and the UK want to protect the Iraqi people from the Saddam regime.
Mimosa Zajmi, 24, student
For me the UK is a positive, not a negative country.
I've been to London once and I don't have a negative view of Britain.
But this war is not a positive sign.
Nobody likes the war in Iraq or anywhere else in the world.
I don't understand what the UK and US will achieve in this war.
Innocent people are losing their lives in this war.
The war in Kosovo was different, but it was also the same because Milosevic was deporting people and many people were killed.
I hear them say they want to disarm Iraq, free the Iraqi people and help the world.
I don't believe that.
Albania
Petraq Pojani, 67, retired diplomat
I served in Moscow, Paris and Brussels so I only know Britain theoretically, not very well.
But in the so-called old Europe everyone knows the role played by the isolated island, by the isolated empire.
I hope it will change and play a new role because we are on the eve of big changes in the world.
At the moment we don't see anything unusual from Britain, but I'm hopeful it will adjust to the continent because it is necessary - although that may take a little time.
Ina Gjikondi, 18, school pupil
Great Britain is a great country with a strong economy and a strong role in the world today.
I know that London is the capital city and I love that country.
I hope to visit Britain this June and I know a lot of English people.
I love the way they argue and the English way of political organisation.
I like the way the state has a queen and how everyone follows orders from Buckingham Palace.
Argentina
Leo Cantarbi, 26, mechanic
Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Norton motorbikes.
I know that there is some resentment against Britain here.
Britain is seen as having expansionist ambitions, because of the Malvinas war, and because of its current position regarding Iraq.
But politics will pass and the music will remain.
Carlos Larrat, 28, student
The first thing that springs to mind is Anglo-Saxon culture.
The British may appear cold and diplomatic, but they are very organised, unlike we Latins, who are chaotic.
And music, it is the birthplace of modern music.
Britpop.
The Rolling Stones, Oasis.
And football.
Manchester United.
Luis Zenko, 26, street painter
Iraq, because of the British government's position in the war.
But I don't think the British people agree with what their government is doing.
It's as if I, being Jewish, were blamed because of Sharon's policies in Israel.
I think the British people are for peace.
I don't think of Malvinas, I don't think there is any resentment about the 1982 war here.
Olga Martinez, museologist
Tony Blair.
I don't agree with the war in Iraq.
For the rest, I don't like the Beatles, and I don't believe in monarchies.
Indonesia
Muhadi, 37, pancake seller
Well, it's football, isn't it?
Other sports as well, but mainly football.
I like Man U the most and then perhaps Arsenal.
As to the war, Britain should not just follow America and get mixed up in American matters.
It's not America's puppet but not a long way off.
Ririn Syaiful, 38, bakery worker
My first thought would be about the war.
England is quite evil.
America is very evil but England is almost as bad.
England is just not what it used to be when Lady Di was around.
Then it was the tops but now it's no longer up there.
Now there are just too many naughty people, although I don't know that for certain as I don't have the money to go there.
Slamat Budiyono, 43, money changer.
My first thought would be about study.
It's a good place to study because you learn the international language and then it's easy to get a job after we've studied there.
I might have a masters from Indonesia but it's not widely accepted, but with just a bachelors from England it's better than my Indonesian masters.
I don't understand about politics but about the war, objectively, I don't agree with it.
We know Saddam Hussein is not that nice but Iraq is a sovereign nation.
Mexico
Abraham Alvarez, 23, shoe shiner
I think of football, of Beckham and Owen and people like that.
And castles.
Isn't Oasis from England?
And that other one with the glasses [Elton John] ...
If you really want to know what I think, I think the English are in the war with the gringos so that they can divide up Iraqi oil afterwards ...
The US first, of course, and then the English.
Eduardo Prud'homme, 31, civil servant
The stereotype is that the English are phlegmatic and controlled, the opposite of Latins.
And punctuality and double-decker buses.
When I was a child I imagined they dressed elegantly, too, but now I know that's not true.
The music has influenced us a lot.
For me it was Pink Floyd, the Police, Peter Gabriel, and now Radiohead.
I don't really know how to interpret England's role in this war.
I don't see their need.
I know there is a special relationship but I think this war is about the US agenda as the empire of the moment.
People here say the English are arse-licking, but it seems more personal.
More about Blair and Bush.
Gilberto Brena, 46, doctor
It is a country with a long history, long traditions and polite, upright people who never push the limits of behaviour.
I assume they are supporting the United States for commercial interests, but they don't have much influence any more.
England is still a world power but nothing compared to the United States or to what it was.
But maybe the terrorism threat is real.
The gringos are never sincere, but the English might be.
Guadalupe
Macias, 43, housewife (US-born nephew in the marines)
I know the English have a monarchy and castles, but I know nothing more.
I don't know what they are doing in the war, I don't understand that at all, but from what I've seen on the television they don't seem cruel.
They seem like Mexicans.
At least they don't treat prisoners badly.
Afghanistan
Nasruddin Fakhry, 24, student
The British are like the Russians.
They just want to interfere in Afghanistan.
They are still trying to have something.
People think the British are here to once again take our treasures.
That was their plan before.
It's the same now.
Kamal Mohamed, 22, businessman
They want to take Afghanistan.
In all of the world, they are worst.
They are more evil than America, because every problem in the world is created by them.
They say they are kind, but they are not.
Mohamed Fahim Achakzi, 30, restaurateur
Their mind is very sharp.
They think about the future.
We don't.
We are just thinking about now.
They don't think about the past.
They are very strict.
They are friendly, but not friendly like Americans, who say they are.
British people want to make real friends.
Germany
Antje Laarz, 20, insurance trainee
Tony Blair, because he's in the media so much.
He's taking a stand against his own party members.
As for the war, it's as bad as it gets.
I just don't understand a country that supports America in this.
Ramona Hönke, 20, student
I think of Tony Blair.
He's a typical politician.
He doesn't listen to what his people say or what his government says.
He does what he wants, yet as far as I know Britain is a democracy.
Isn't it?
Peter König, 64, pensioner
London is the first thing that springs to mind.
I've been there and know my way around.
The people have a different mentality from us Germans.
For the most part, they're more stubborn.
If, here in Germany, a foreigner asks me for directions and can't express himself very well, I'll try to help even if my English isn't very good.
But there people barely build bridges.
It's difficult.
John Major came from a lower middle class British family and his only credential was a school-leaving certificate. He became head of the Conservative party.
Now we're getting somewhere.
No, it hasn't. People around the work have hated the US for years -we have too much and we give them too little.
X% of the world's resources consumed by Y% of the world's population. Sound familiar?
Abraham Alvarez, 23, shoe shiner
...If you really want to know what I think, I think the English are in the war with the gringos so that they can divide up Iraqi oil afterwards ...
The US first, of course, and then the English.
If this were about oil, we could've marched into Mexico and taken their oil without having to go halfway around the world.
Slaves in slave states will never understand how free men in free nations behave....
Sure it has....
Who cares, most of the Worlds moronic mobs never learn from the history, so history will teach and punish them.
Hey! That's Anglo-Aust-US invasion of Iraq.
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