HATS OFF TO IRELAND, SHOES OFF BLAIR

NOVANEWS

September 04, 2010

Great news from Ireland. According to The Guardian Blair thought that the Irish would love him so much for the fact that he put the finishing touches to a peace process in Ireland that was initiated by his Tory predecessor, John Major, that he wouldn’t get the rough ride he can expect in the UK when he flogs his stupid book.

Violence has broken out at the first public signing for Tony Blair’s memoirs, with anti-war protesters hurling shoes and eggs at the former prime minister.The projectiles did not hit Blair as he arrived at a bookshop in Dublin, Ireland, to be greeted by scores of demonstrators chanting that he was a “war criminal” and had “blood on his hands” because of the invasion of Iraq.Irish police blocked off streets around the Eason store on O’Connell Street following the clashes with activists who tried to push down a security barrier.
The demonstrators also shouted: “Hey hey Tony hey, how many kids have you killed today?”
The city tram service was suspended and shops in the surrounding area also closed.
Buyers at the signing had to hand over bags and mobile phones before entering the store. Undercover detectives mingled with the crowds taking names before Blair arrived at the shop at about 10.30am.

Hmm, “projectiles did not hit Blair”? I used to support the aims and objectives of the anti-war movement but maybe the aim needs a bit more work.Many thanks to Sarah in the comments.

Posted by Levi9909  Labels: iraq, Tony Blair

September 03, 2010

Massive Attack on ‘Israel‘

This is good news from the New Statesman. It could be better because the Massive Attack in the headline isn’t retaliation for Gaza or over 60 years of ethnic cleansing but the solidarity of a very prominent, massive even, musical duo with the Palestinian cause.

The movement for a cultural boycott of Israel in response to its treatment of the Palestinians, modelled on the boycott of apartheid South Africa, could eclipse decades of disingenuous political charades in engaging western intellectuals, academics and artists. Internationally renowned figures such as Naomi Klein and Ken Loach have supported the call, and now one of Britain’s most successful bands, Massive Attack, is publicly backing the boycott.

“I’ve always felt that it’s the only way forward,” Robert Del Naja, the band’s lead singer, tells me when we meet at the Lazarides gallery in Fitzrovia, London. Del Naja is an artist as well as musician and his face and fingers are speckled with paint. Dozens of his pictures are strewn all over the wooden floorboards, drying. “It’s a system that’s been applied to many countries. It’s a good thing to aim for because it applies the continual pressure that’s needed.”
Musicians have a history of rallying the public to supporting political causes. The global anti-apartheid movement got the fillip it desperately needed when musicians began supporting it. The single “Sun City” by Artists United Against Apartheid in 1985 and the 70th-birthday tribute concert for Nelson Mandela at Wembley in 1988 catapulted the cause into millions of ordinary homes.

Could that happen with the Palestinian cause some time soon? They’ll never get a Palestine solidarity show on to mainstream television any time soon but then the internet does kill Israeli PR.

Posted by Levi9909  Labels: BDS, boycott, hasbara

ZioNazi SS

There I was in a pub, coincidentally not far from Shoreditch, when the picture arrived as a text message. I asked the friend about the picture and she didn’t know anything about it except it costs £2,000 so she didn’t enquire further.
I don’t know what to make of the picture really. See the financial allusions? Dollars, even New Israeli Shekels. You see? Just below the SS in the middle are the two $ signs. And to the left of the dollar signs, NIS. No GBP, no £, except on the price tag. But at two grand, I’m guessing the artist is no beginner. Who is it? I wonder.

Posted by Levi9909

September 02, 2010

Blair in Jerusalem

Blair was in occupied Palestine just recently promoting zionist victory over the natives and neighbours of that country. And he was in America after that to promote his stupid book, presumably because no UK bookshop dared have him given the protests that would ensue.The Jewish Chronicle in the UK reported that whilst in Palestine

Former British prime minster Tony Blair nailed his colours firmly to the mast of Israel and democracy [!!!] this week in a stunning address to press, politicians and diplomats in Herzliya.

Speaking in his capacity as official envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, Mr Blair challenged critics of Israel not to apply double standards to the Jewish state.

Unbelievable, stunning even. This was days before the publication of his book in which he claims he has cried for the dead in Iraq. Isn’t that a double standard? Israel couldn’t hope to get away with its persistent war crimes in and around Palestine if it wasn’t for the double standards it benefits from. And Blair is the “official envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East”. I’m guessing it was a freudian slip that had the JC omitting final insult, peace, from Blair’s latest job title.

Oh, on the crying over Iraq thing, did I mention I had a letter published in today’s Guardian? Someone in The Guardian claimed that Blair had “admitted” to crying over Iraq. Here’s my response: 

I am always suspicious when journalists write of admissions rather than claims by politicians. So it is with Nicholas Watt writing that Blair “admits to shedding many tears at the loss of so many lives” in Iraq. If Blair was making a claim that diminished rather than enhanced his reputation, then to say he had “admitted” to something would be appropriate. But if he is making a claim that humanises himself, in spite of all that we now know, then to say he has “admitted” to anything is to participate in his self-exculpation.

Mark Elf  Dagenham, Essex 

Ooh! “Self-exculpation”. Well the spell-checker never chucked it out so I ran with it.

There’s an awful lot of tosh in The Independent about Blair too, but they didn’t publish my letter. They did publish several others in response to a wretched piece of nonsense by Blair biographer, John Rentoul. The piece is sub-titled,

Nothing he can say in his book today will stop the flow; the anger against him exists at a deeper level, impervious to reasoned argument, certainly from him

The problem that Blair is a transparent self-seeking bare-faced liar clearly hasn’t occurred to Mr Rentoul or it has and he is of the same ilk. None of the letters agree with Rentoul so I’m dreading tomorrow when “balance” might kick in.