The passing of wood through glass is a remarkable feat. There are those who believe that royalty can perform miracles – there is a well developed cult around the vain and vicious Charles I, for example. It now appears that the presence of the future Charles III also has the ability to suspend the laws of physics.
The police have now issued extensive CCTV footage of the attack on the vehicle of Charles and Camilla on the fringes of the anti-tuition fee demonstrations, and the media have been replete with more nonsense about Camilla being poked with a stick. Yet of all the CCTV footage and numerous photographs, there is no evidence at all of this attack and all the images show the car windows to be closed – as they would be. One gets cracked but not holed.
There is in fact no evidence at all of any intent to harm the persons of the expensive royal layabouts, as opposed to discomfiting them and damaging their vehicle. It is fascinating that the media continually repeats the “Camilla attacked with a stick” line when it is so blatantly untrue. There appears to be a closing of ranks by the whole Establishment to perpetuate the myth – both the Home Office and St James Palace have deliberately fostered the myth by refusing to confirm or deny.
Personally I would not touch Camilla with a bargepole. I dislike violence at demonstrations. Demonstrations, good, riots, bad is my basic mantra. Attacks on people in a civil demonstration are always wrong, including attacks on the police unless in self defence. I did not join in the outrage at the prosecutions of violent demonstrators after the big Lebanon demonstration in London, because I personally witnessed the group hurling dangerous missiles at police who were neither attacking, threatening nor kettling them. That is absolutely unacceptable.
But a policy as appalling as the withdrawal of state funding from university teaching, carried out by Nick Clegg by one of the most blatant political breaches of fatih with the public in history, , is bound to provoke huge anger. The government reaps what it sows. Demonstrators should not set out to hurt people. But all the evidence shows they had no intention of hurting Charles and Camilla.
I have personally worked closely with the royal family’s close protection officers in organising two state visits abroad, and plainly they too could see there was no intent to injure – that is why weapons were not drawn. They deserve commendation rather than the crap spouted out by Sky News, who seem to think they should have gunned down the odd student.
All of which serves to take the focus off vicious police attacks on students and the use of kettling to detain people who were seeking peacefully to express their views. Kettling people in extreme cold and with no access to toilet facilities raises questions on illegal detention which genuine liberals in government would wish to address. What is it? Is it a form of arrest? What is the status of the fenced pens into which people are herded? Should they not be formalised as places of police detention, and individuals booked in and given access to lawyers? If that is not possible, this detention – which can be for many hours – is not lawful.
“Besieged Assange hires PR team”
http://www.smh.com.au/world/besieged-assange-hires-pr-team-20110108-19j5f.html
“[US] DOJ subpoenas Twitter records of several WikiLeaks volunteers”
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/01/07/twitter/index.html
(looks like Twitter did the right thing. Were Google and Facebook also subpoenaed and did they fold?)
Quite right Suhayl – that comment was in military terms ‘a passing shot.’
When one considers the level of violence brought to bear on Palestinian demonstrators by Israel the phenomenon of “kettling” seem small beer indeed.
corporatewatch have compiled evidence detailing the experimental use of chemical weapons against peaceful protesters in the Palestinian village of Bi’lin:
http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3866
An Israeli, Doreen Bell-Dotan, ponders whether Israel is a Nazi experiment:
http://doreenellenbelldotan.info/IsraelNaziEnterpriseExperiment.htm
@evgueni at [January 8, 2011 2:46 AM] – excellent post, thanks! No time today, but I will come back to that one.
@Paul from an earlier thread, and @all: please note that if you post more than two links in a comment, it will not publish automatically (for anti-spam reasons). If you really need to post several links, put them in separate posts.
Jon, thanks for the moderation; it was so much easier to catch up with the thread this morning. Regarding links, you seem to be able to post as many as you like if you omit the http:// at the beginning. If you’d like a ‘moderator’s page’, displaying house rules, tips, and maybe a contact e-mail, send me the html and I’ll put it up on my web space where you can link to it.
Alaric at 2:54 AM: thanks, informative.
Evgueni at 2:46 AM: excellent post. Yes, all people are corruptible, so attention must be focused on improving the structure. And yes, I consider the coming referendum on AV to be an important opportunity. AV is far from ideal, but it has one big strength; when properly understood by the voters, it can help a good candidate beat the Big Parties’ stranglehold.
An element of “lights blue touch paper”…It is a problem. And one on which i believe Yasmin Aibhai Brown has also recently written. Moral of the story? Religion poisons everything again.Best to get it out in the open.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/08/jack-straw-white-girls-easy-meat?intcmp=239
Yasmin has indeed written about this area, alan (1pm). You’re quite right. And as I’ve written over on one of the other current threads, it is something that definitely needs to be tackled. I agree that it needs to be out in the open.
It seems that there may be several factors here, but the sum of it all seems to construct a supremacist mindset – patriarchy, misogyny, idiotic and visceral motivations of ‘race revenge’, hypocritically ‘puritanical’ bourgeois/ feudal ideas of ‘shame’ and ‘honour’ and yes, the whole mode of thought fostered by religious fundamentalism.
As I said on the other thread, we absolutely cannot allow organisations like the BNP to make the running on this; it’s time to tackle such matters head-on within the broad community (and I mean everybody) in these places. Ann Cryer, a courageous Labour MP, got a lot of negative pressure when she tried to do so. She ought to have been given full support. One of the problems is that even some of the ‘moderate’ voices are not actually moderate and still come from a specific regressive perspective. It’s also important not to confuse an analysis of organised crime with faith groupings – though as I’ve suggested, sometimes the two are not entirely separate. As I said, I don’t see any Islamists – who get very worked-up about Israel/Palestine, Kashmir, etc. – condemning the assassination of the Governor of Punjab.
evgueni,
Affirms that ‘human nature is the real culprit here. It is opportunistic, self-serving and therefore corruptible.’
The problem I believe with human nature is competitiveness and the broadly positivist assumption that one can understand the world through simple observation and the application of ‘common sense’ – an assertion normally corrupted by egoistic greed and selfishness out of a need for continuity and ultimately survival.
The advancement of human nature away from a capitalist philosophy and away from an individual completeness and self-sufficiency that implies separateness as the fundamental human condition, is within our grasp, if we simply consider the close interactions with our children and apply those same interactions to communal relations and further.
As humans we are able to adapt and transform by reasoning, and good reasoning suggests advancement to a better world if we can apply the love, understanding and nurturing that occurs within the family, at the social/collective level and beyond regardless of language.
Applied properly this may be our salvation; a cure for selfishness and greed, even torture and war.
Our individual identity is collectively generated and our behavior shaped by social relations around us therefore a reciprocity to others is fundamental to our advancement and ultimately our survival.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/yasmin-alibhai-brown/yasmin-alibhaibrown-asian-men-white-women-and-a-taboo-that-must-be-broken-2146251.html
why on earth are students blaming the royals for uni fees ?
Nice good basic democratic system, that of cantons, and a serious contender for democractic practise awards. But what of its relations with its neighbours, the reluctance to join other countries in bilateral bliss, the staunch nationalism that still haunts Switzerlands high and mighty?
Any thoughts on reforms for the ultra protective and secretive banking laws in Switzerland Euvgeni, with access for all commers, no questions asked? Is that something that is compatible with open democratic discourse?
How is immigration into Switzerland regulated, who has the better case for getting to become a Swiss neutralised?
Would a sommeliere from Poland, eager to work, have the same chances and hurdles to cross, as the Formula 1 driver from Britain, there to avoid paying taxes in his homeland?
The assassination by an Islamist gunman this week of the Governor of Punjab for his public support of the rights of religious minorities and for repeal of the Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan and the the disgusting paedophile ring in the north of England emerge from the same toxic chamber-pot. Yasmin’s article in the Independent (see alan campbell at 1:41pm) expresses this very well.
It’s crucial that people on the Left understand that neither military imperialists nor religious fundamentalists are conduits to any kind of liberation or peace. Indeed, they serve each other’s purposes excellently. As we know, and as is epitomised tragically in the state of Pakistan, one emerged largely, though not wholly, from the other.
Good piece by Cyril Almeida:
http://www.cyrilalmeida.com/
http://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/2011/01/04/in-pakistan-a-death-foretold/
This is relevant to the UK, because many of the organs that spout propaganda supportive of Jihadist views are easily available here. Furthermore, Jihadism has been exported from the UK to, for example, Canada and South Asia. There are intimate links b/w all of these groups and they emerge from, and exert, broad influence. This is something people in Muslim communities have been fighting for ages – unfortunately, the ‘Religious Right’ has all the guns and all the butter, as these pieces make clear.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/01/08/blaming-the-victim.html
http://www.dawn.com/2011/01/05/the-fallout-of-religious-cleansing.html
Sorry, I don’t mean to hijack the ‘student protest’ thread. I’ll stop now!
Suhayl Jan 8 9:00 AM
I spent a couple of years in Zurich and had to make use of the health service there on several occasions. Was impressed at the time at the quality and user friendliness, so looked into how it is organised. It is paid for largely by compulsory health insurance premiums, much like it is supposedly in the UK – by law if you have a job, you have 3 months to choose a health insurance from the market. The premium comes out directly from your pay. If you do not have a job or do not earn enough then health insurance is purchased for you by the state I think. So far, so similar to the UK. The difference is that there is no monolithic bureaucratic NHS there. A high degree of competition is enforced by legislation on the health insurance businesses of which there are many competing for a share of the market. Rules are enforced that prevent risk-based premiums and ‘cream skimming’ etc resulting in affordable premiums regardless of individual circumstances. Also the medical facilities compete amongst themselves for a share of the market. Insurance companies have lists of preferred facilities for which there are no excess charges. This information forms part of the basis on which individuals choose their insurer and level of cover. The basic level of health insurance is defined by law so ‘confusion marketing’ is eliminated. That’s it – it works much better than the NHS because of the continuing competition on the enforced ‘level playing field’, on top of the obvious benefits of universal socialised health insurance, a characteristic that is shared by the Swiss and the UK system and which is absent I think from the US model of healthcare provision.
There is a lot of detail in this report if you are interested:
http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/96411/E68670.pdf
Thanks, evgueni, that’s very useful, interesting and helpful. I’ll check out the link.
Fascinating developments in Edinburgh.
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2011/01/08/the-irresistible-rise-of-the-edinburgh-party/#more-1747
@Vronsky:
“Fascinating developments in Edinburgh.”
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2011/01/08/the-irresistible-rise-of-the-edinburgh-party/#more-1747
Is this a spoof?
Thanks for that excellent link Vronsky, its so down my street.
Looks like the sub peona of four Wikileaks persona was not all.
Its becoming apparent that all the 683.000 odd Wiki supporters on bebo facebook and other social networks around thew world are/could be included by this sharks tooth legislation designed to clamp down on dissent.
All their contacts could also be covered by this subpoena on behalf of this years extension to the Patriots act, the shark.
Now this is more than cyber war,
cyber bullies low on cash,
act like meglomanic trash,
spying, lying, nightly transpiring
de stabilising,
just to save their sorry arse.
Now there comes a point when all these thousands of Wiki supporters and connected people, now threatened with exposure and harrassment had enough of this pathetic shadow of itself and start organising.
I propose a boycott of all US goods until they relent from state cyber bullying and outright vindictiveness and set Bradley Mannig free.
I’m not on twitter but anyone is welcome to propose this in my name, the time has come to fight back, I shall lay of the crispy cream, drink my spirits without coca cola( never use the stuff anyway) and I swear I will never look at a big mack again in my whole life. I shall cancel my order for Crocs tommorrow.
“Switzerlands high and mighty?”
We live up mountains!
“Is this a spoof?”
Sadly, I think so. It sounds as if it has borrowed a little from the Edinburgh politics of the 17th century. And there is an air of allegory, I think. Would love to find out I’m wrong!
“In 1548 Mary, Queen of Scots, sailed from Leith for France, and thirteen years later she landed there again on 19 August 1561, riding to Holyrood the following day to assume her throne. At that time, if Edinburgh was held by one party, Leith would almost certainly contain the headquarters of the other, and Leith soon became the centre of opposition to the imprisoned Queen. In 1571 the Edinburgh party attacked their opponents at Leith in the ‘Lang Fight’, whose duration was in inverse proportion to the number of victims, lasting all day with just 36 dead. But in its aftermath, antagonism deepened, and even to belong to Edinburgh or Leith could be enough to cost a man his life.”
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Edinburgh
“Its becoming apparent that all the 683.000 odd Wiki supporters on bebo facebook and other social networks around thew world …”
Which includes me, as one of their followers on Twitter. 🙂
And for example, Krishnan Guru-Murthy of C4 and thousands of others.
The US DoJ can go to hell. Hoovering up all this info in a desperate attempt to find something to charge Assange with. Daniel Ellsberg tweeted yesterday, “No US law could criminalize wikileaks/Assange that wouldn’t apply exactly to publisher of nytimes or to Bob Woodward”.
These are twists in law dreolin, they will not learn until someone stibs them on the nose. I’d rather hurt them were they feel it most at present, their economy is diving headfirst into widespread federal spending cuts, their trillion annual deficit is unsustainable, there is no other way and this time its without the tax cuts to the richest, according to Bernanke.
Hence my proposal, if these 680K plus are linking this, within a week this issue could be solved.
Once customer of First City, Mastercard and other US banks, are taking their money out and deposit it in French, Dutch or English banks, they will wake up and see hwat they caused.
What if Amazon looses thousands of customers due to their complicity?
Are we their slaves? do we not have the power of our combined cash to wager against this bully?
The harder they get hit the more they wake up.
I’m just waiting for the news to get around, ingo, and then I’ll propose the boycott as you suggested. It hasn’t made its way fully around Twitter yet.
[BTW, A (D) Conrgresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, has just been shot in the head in Tucson Arizona. Unconnected.]
Faisal Islam: “Assange’s lawyer told C4News: ‘On the way to the studio, I understand, that a subpoena has been served on Skype'”
Bastards.
The delightful Ms. Sarah Palin had a gunsight on this Congresswoman’s head in a Facebook page. See here:
http://twitpic.com/3o7bno/full
Gabrielle Giffords is now dead.
dreolin wrote “The US DoJ can go to hell. Hoovering up all this info in a desperate attempt to find something to charge Assange with. Daniel Ellsberg tweeted yesterday, “No US law could criminalize wikileaks/Assange that wouldn’t apply exactly to publisher of nytimes or to Bob Woodward”.”
That’s a good point – most of the media in the Us have been real hypocrites on this – publishing stuff wikileaks have given them to vet themselves but that wikileaks hasn’t itself published, then condemning wikileaks for being “irresponsible”