The anger of bereavement
100925 Life Means Life 264, originally uploaded by hoffman.
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‘nother day, ‘nother bigot
I promised not to do yet another blog about the EDL but I don’t think this one will offer much relief.
Saturday was the anniversary of the twin towers attack (or US/Zionist conspiracy if you prefer exciting nonsense). Anjem Choudry and the Headbangers strutted their noisy, meaningless stuff outside the US Embassy, eventually managing to burn a US flag for the kneejerk media. I’ll spare you yet another photo of that crush of smoke and cameras and give you instead a corny shot of yet another mediaeval Mr Shouty.
The placard reads “Jesus will destroy the cross and follow the Quran”.
Wonderful. One raving sober set of brown bigots await a dead semi-fictitious radical’s conversion while 100 yards away a raving drunken set of pink bigots shout crude insults at the imaginary being the first set worship.
And next week we get yet another featherbedded nut in fancy dress and a silly hat on his Plank Man Promotion tour, spreading ignorance, prejudice and disease in the name of salvation.
It’s hard to believe in human progress, sod the lot of them. Mickey Bakunin had it about right:
I couldn’t work up much enthusiasm for these vicious new puritans but here’s a minimal gallery. I would have done more but I just need a bit of fresh air.
More boring EDL stuff. Sorry.
I wanted to give us all a rest from this EDL nonsense but seeing as they put so much effort into entertaining us it seems mean not to give them one more little splash. They had the Kronenberg Choir organised and a brave attempt at their signature number “Allah is a Paedo” was only partly drowned out by the sound of passing sparrows farting.
Some of the less dedicated press started to drift off at that point so they quickly launched into a round of Scary Pointing At The Photographer.
That just left time for the glorious Flag Finale – pity they’d not had time for a rehearsal
before they sloped off back under their flat stones once more.
Ho hum. I’ll do something more interesting next time, I promise.
Jewish Defence League – Schmooish Defence League
A surreal afternoon and I’ll write about it later. A pro Palestinian group pickets a shop selling products from the occupied territories and the Jewish Defence League, a tiny sub group of the EDL, picket the picket.
Each side scampered around photographing each other, shouting slogans and doing the Testosterone Strut until boredom overcame commitment and we could all go off for a nice cup of tea.
Boozers Against Burkas
A sunny Saturday afternoon, a couple of hundred drink fuelled racists riding the nationalist bandwagon – “Ban the Burka”, “No More Mosques”, “We Want Our Country Back” as they yell, stomp and intimidate their noisy way from Westminster to, err, Westminster.
I’m always puzzled by the way this bunch make such an effort to put on an impressive show with their St George’s masks, home made placards, T-shirts, big flags and banners – and then attack the photographers reporting it. Most of us were sworn at continually. Obscene, drunken spit sprayed threats competed with aggressive barging and uncoordinated grabs at our cameras. One colleague was hit on the head with a banner pole, another was punched. One clumsy drunk was so keen to push me down the steps that he nearly fell down them himself.
And then the leader of one contingent went out of his way to push aside the thugs surrounding me, praise my coverage and invite me to cover their future events. Funny bunch.
Still No Justice, Still No Peace
There was hardly anyone among the two hundred or so angry, loud protesters whose lives had not been touched by a police killing. As well as Ian Tomlinson’s name the streets echoed with those of a long list who met the Met in a terminal way.
Fred Tokunpur Akiyemi, Christopher Alder, Arthur Allison, Roger Allotey, James Ashley, Peter Austin, Noorjahan Begum, Mr Benmerabet, Derek Bennett, Ricky Bishop, Ziya Bitirim, Stephen Bogle, Nicholas Bramble, Derek Buchanan, Edwin Carr, Paul Coker, Simeon Collins, Joseph Crensil, Asif Dad, David ‘Duke’ Daley, George Bosie Davies, Brian Douglas, Wayne Douglas, Marlon Downes, Lee Duvall, David Ewin, Michael Ferreira, Henry Floyd, Giles Freeman, Herbert Gabbidon, Ahmed El Gammal, Joy Gardner, Kevin Gately, Robin Goodenough, Ian Gordon, Leroy Gordon, Vincent Graham, Sponford Antonio Green, S. Singh Grewal, James Hall, Mark Harris, Tunay Hassan, Nenneh Jalloh, Cynthia Jarrett, Kebba ‘Dobe’ Jobe, Andrew Jordan, Nadeem Khan, Sultan Khan, Shiji Lapite, Franklyn Lee, Caiphas Lemard, Patrick Louis, Leon Marshall, Michael Dean Martin, Clinton McCurbin, John McDonnell, Jason Oscar McPherson, Shohik Meah, Jean Charles de Menezes, John Mikkelson, Daniel Morgan, Joseph Nnalue, Richard O’Brien, Nicholas Ofusurank Ogburu, Oscar Okoye, David Oluwale, Joseph Palombella, Mohammed Parkit, Vandana Patel, Leon Patterson, Matthew Paul, Blair Peach, Peter San Pedro, Mikey Powell, Oliver Pryce, Oakley Ramsey, Sean Rigg, Colin Roach, Azelle Rodney Winston Rose, James Ruddock, Nuur Saeed, Ibrahima Sey, Lytton Shannon, John Shorthouse, Randhir Showpal, Changa Singh, Shkander, Singh, Kwanele Siziba, Harry Stanley, Jamie Stewart, Roger Sylvester, Sarah Thomas, Fosta Errol Thompson, Ian Tomlinson, Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah, Mark Ventour, Spencer Weston, Donovan Williams, Tyrone Wilson, Kwame Sasu Wiredu and Paul Yorke.
These are just the ones we know to have died at the hands – or boots, or clubs, or guns – of the police. More have been hidden as accidents, suicides. Never a prosecution, the police enjoy their impunity, the killings continue.
No Justice, No Peace.
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Sex in the garden
There’s something about these long light warm evenings.
And the babies will eat the blackfly on my runner beans.
Zombie Law
Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 never had much going for it other than its use by dim plods for harassing photographers. A bastard child of Thatcherite paranoia fostered and festered in the foul innards of New Labour it spent its brief decade of life reviled and jeered at by all but the most abject self deluders.
Finally given the coupe de grace by the European Court of Human Rights it is now a dead law walking. A law declared unlawful. But in true zombie fashion it staggers on, treading freedoms won over centuries into the gutter, enforced with enthusiasm and vigour by Met Police, Home Office and kneejerk coppers across the country.
It may be dead, it may be stinking and rotten but today 60+ photographers turned up at the Mausoleum for a joyful foxtrot on its empty grave.
Even in this digital age photographers can still amass enough silver to make one final bullet to lay this shameful, abusive law in its grave for once and for all. And we will.
Energy, anger and a lot of running about
It’s genuinely inspiring to see the energy and GoForItness of the Bengalis in Tower Hamlets
no time for nudity today
I really enjoyed last weekend’s Naked Bike ride despite the ever growing number of sad wusses, bonded to their textile existence.
I still have 40 files to process but no time yet so here’s a teaser to keep you interested until I get round to doing the rest just as soon as the world slows down a bit.
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