stella41b
Posts: 4258
Joined: 10/16/2007 From: SW London (UK) Status: offline
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I unfortunately was caught up in the City protests and was almost arrested as the police stopped and searched me and found a screwdriver in my possession. I was travelling from Old Street in the City towards home and then onto a technical rehearsal at the venue in Battersea. The police suggested I change my plans and go home 'if I didn't want to get myself into trouble'. As a result I'm at home today, all rehearsals for my forthcoming play are cancelled until Sunday and thanks to what happened I have to fit into two rehearsals what I wanted to do over six or seven. This is all unnecessary - and it doesn't matter here whether it's the heavy-handed attitude of the police, the violence and vandalism of some of the protestors (yeah right, as if the people responsible for all this are really going to be travelling to work in the rush hour) the biased reporting of the media (what about the perfectly peaceful protests in Trafalgar Square which also took place?) or the taunting and provocation of some of the City workers towards the protestors. All it shows, and it shows it to the world, in London at least, that our society is divided, bitterly so among class lines, and that people are divided, bitter, angry, filled with hatred towards each other, that there is very little respect not just towards law and the property of other but also to one's fellow man. It shows up the lack of solidarity among people in this country, that people have their own agendas, that people aren't bothered about listening to the other side of the argument and coming together. That opportunity for revolution has come and gone, and hate-filled protests and mindless violence isn't the solution, because the authorities are more than well equipped to deal with confrontation and as you can see it won't win you many friends among the media or people. Once again the media was used to set the people against each other and once again the protestors fell for it, completely missing the point. And the point is most of those City workers are not, as the media claims, bankers, but people who work for banks - secretaries, financial analysts, computer and IT specialists, cleaners, caterers and agency workers - people who just like some of the protestors are exploited and yes, some of those City workers can be poor - a high degree of personal debt can make anyone poor. G20 will come and go, but the problems won't and the problems will remain for as long as people remain entrenched in their respective positions and nor daring or wanting to overcome the divisions which keep them divided. Change will only come when those barriers and divisions are broken down and overcome and people start showing some solidarity and cooperation and coming together. It won't come with a Labour government, it won't come with a Conservative one either, nor a government formed of BNP or the Respect Coalition or whoever our longstanding leader Rupert Murdoch decides should form the puppet government. It will only come when people stop blaming each other and start working with each other to overcome the differences.
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