MPs slag off Geldof
Keith Parkins | 09.06.2005 14:47 | G8 2005 | Analysis | Globalisation | Social Struggles | London | Scotland
On Tuesday Members of the House of Commons slagged-off Bob Geldof for calling for a million people on the streets of Edinburgh. Highly irresponsible they muttered into their Order Papers.
In an attack led by the Tory Scottish affairs spokesman, MPs slagged off Bob Geldof. In doing so, they were echoing their counterparts in Scotland.
The same crap, highly irresponsible to call for a million people to go to Edinburgh etc etc. [see Hansard Tuesday 7 June 2005]
Who do these people represent? No small wonder election turnout is so low and falling.
I have not in the past noticed the leader of Edinburgh complain about people attending the Edinburgh Festival or the Fringe, but then that is about fleecing visitors for every penny.
What the politicians do not like is a mass movement building up, people power.
It is okay in Georgia or other parts of Eastern Europe, for people to take to the streets and bring down governments, but not in the UK.
What we are seeing, is what is common in Latin America, people taking to the streets, controlling their own destiny. That is what our out-of-touch politicians fear most.
There is talk of violence on the streets of Edinburgh.
What of the violence globalisation wreaks on the people of Africa, the millions who die each year?
On the day MPs were slagging off Geldof, Tony Blair was meeting his master, George W Bush in Washington.
Bush, at the press conference that followed, said the US would triple aid to Africa.
Three times nothing, is still nothing.
The amount Bush is offering, is barely 10% of what even the discredited Commission for Africa said the US should be offering year on year.
What Bush is actually offering, will be given with one hand and taken away with the other. Yes, he is offering debt relief, but for every dollar given in debt relief, it will be taken from what is currently given as aid.
Websites
http://www.live8live.com/
http://www.wdm.org.uk/
http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/
http://www.resistg8.org.uk/
http://www.dissent.org.uk/
http://www.g8alternatives.org.uk/
http://www.g8blockades.org.uk/
Reference
G8 protest 'needs underwriting', BBC news on-line, 9 June 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4074872.stm
Geldof expects 'glorious failure', BBC news on-line, 9 June 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4076538.stm
Keith Parkins, Georgia, Indymedia, 25 November 2003
http://www.indymedia.org/print.php3?article_id=366181
Keith Parkins, Growing evidence of CIA involvement in Georgia coup?, Indymedia, 5 December 2003
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=368917&group=webcast
Keith Parkins, Bob Geldof and Live 8, Indymedia UK, 6 June 2005
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/06/312715.html
Keith Parkins, Sail 8, Indymedia UK, 6 June 2005
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/06/312724.html
Keith Parkins, A sense of the masses - a manifesto for the new revolution, October 2003
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/democracy.htm
US and UK 'close to Africa deal', BBC news on-line, 8 June 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4071504.stm
The same crap, highly irresponsible to call for a million people to go to Edinburgh etc etc. [see Hansard Tuesday 7 June 2005]
Who do these people represent? No small wonder election turnout is so low and falling.
I have not in the past noticed the leader of Edinburgh complain about people attending the Edinburgh Festival or the Fringe, but then that is about fleecing visitors for every penny.
What the politicians do not like is a mass movement building up, people power.
It is okay in Georgia or other parts of Eastern Europe, for people to take to the streets and bring down governments, but not in the UK.
What we are seeing, is what is common in Latin America, people taking to the streets, controlling their own destiny. That is what our out-of-touch politicians fear most.
There is talk of violence on the streets of Edinburgh.
What of the violence globalisation wreaks on the people of Africa, the millions who die each year?
On the day MPs were slagging off Geldof, Tony Blair was meeting his master, George W Bush in Washington.
Bush, at the press conference that followed, said the US would triple aid to Africa.
Three times nothing, is still nothing.
The amount Bush is offering, is barely 10% of what even the discredited Commission for Africa said the US should be offering year on year.
What Bush is actually offering, will be given with one hand and taken away with the other. Yes, he is offering debt relief, but for every dollar given in debt relief, it will be taken from what is currently given as aid.
Websites
http://www.live8live.com/
http://www.wdm.org.uk/
http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/
http://www.resistg8.org.uk/
http://www.dissent.org.uk/
http://www.g8alternatives.org.uk/
http://www.g8blockades.org.uk/
Reference
G8 protest 'needs underwriting', BBC news on-line, 9 June 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4074872.stm
Geldof expects 'glorious failure', BBC news on-line, 9 June 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4076538.stm
Keith Parkins, Georgia, Indymedia, 25 November 2003
http://www.indymedia.org/print.php3?article_id=366181
Keith Parkins, Growing evidence of CIA involvement in Georgia coup?, Indymedia, 5 December 2003
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=368917&group=webcast
Keith Parkins, Bob Geldof and Live 8, Indymedia UK, 6 June 2005
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/06/312715.html
Keith Parkins, Sail 8, Indymedia UK, 6 June 2005
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/06/312724.html
Keith Parkins, A sense of the masses - a manifesto for the new revolution, October 2003
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/democracy.htm
US and UK 'close to Africa deal', BBC news on-line, 8 June 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4071504.stm
Keith Parkins
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