Can’t see the forest…
It’s very good of Gareth Parker to point out the Perth print media’s coverage of Saturday’s peace protests. However, it’s bizarre that he reaches the conclusion that
The closer you look, the more it becomes apparent that, despite the weekend’s impressive show of numbers, this is not at all a broad-based anti-war movement. Instead, it comprises the same loose coalition of the usual suspects.
Clearly Gareth got a very close look, even though he wasn’t there. Which makes me wonder why the Sunday Times reporter, who was there, and upon whose report Gareth made his judgment, came to the opposite conclusion:
People from all walks of life including parents, children, senior citizens and students voiced their opposition to a war in Iraq by marching around the city centre chanting for peace. (Emphasis added.)
I, too, got a closer look than Gareth, and having attended numerous protests in the past (and thus probably counting among the “usual suspects”) I am reasonably well placed to say this was not just another Green Left, ISO, DSP, Resistance rally.
Sure, they were there; and sure, they had their banners. But for every one of those mass-produced Socialist Alliance placards, there were two or maybe three homemade placards or banners carried by people with no apparent connection to a political organisation.
Take a look at this family. Or two acquaintances of mine who are not members of any political party. There was this guy, walking his dog in the march. There was this family, with whom I caught the train and who are involved in CISV — hardly a group that turns up to every protest.
Before Gareth reinterprets the protest to suit his own agenda, he should take a “closer look”; before he shoots his mouth off after looking at the pretty pictures, he should read the text of the article.
A close relative of mine, ex-army and big into the RSL, led an RSL contingent in his hometown. That’s what I think of when I hear the ‘usual suspects’ label.
Yet you appear to be using ‘pretty pictures’ to rebut his claims. Are pretty pictures good or bad?
I could not see in any of the pictures a single practical solution.
These people weren’t protesting war - they were protesting reality.
Cobbler, nice selective reading. I see you’re part of the Gareth Parker school of misrepresentation.
Gareth wasn’t there. He looked at the photos in the newspaper, then made a judgment about the character of the protest. Somehow, he came to the opposite conclusion of the reporter, who was there. I was also there, and I have pictures of a broader range of people than those shown in the newspaper. Gareth is spouting shit based on nothing.
There are points that could be made as to why the protests were nothing truly special (eg, those people have not been radicalised and may not turn up to the next protest) but Gareth doesn’t make them. He just ignores what really happened and makes up his own version of events.
(Btw, how do you propose to present a comprehensive plan for the reform of Iraq on a placard? Don’t be ridiculous. And your slogan — “they were protesting reality” — is such a convincing and well-rounded argument that I’m lost for words. You obviously put a lot of thought into it.)
If you accept the 250 000 figure for the Sydney march then it must have been “broad based.” There just aren’t that many fringe group folk in the country, never mind Sydney.
Bad news I’m afraid. I’ve heard it all before. During Vietnam, as someon heavily involved in the campaign, it was frustrating listening to supporters whose hearts had wiped out their heads.
Only a very small minority (even at “leadership” levels had much of a clue about what public opinion thought, what were the facts of the conflict, how you could get through to the unconverted.
They dismissed our warnings, until the 1966 Elections shattered their comfortable mirage.
We’d had enormous marches; but we were NOT (as the blind believers thought) broad based. I became accustomed to being called a “pessimist” , and told I was wrong BEFORE events.)
Sadly, no one was ever able to call me a pessimist AFTER the event.
Stick to your dreams by all means; but learn to distinguish between belief and reality.