“it’s not the fall…it’s the
empire”
breadfoot in the UK September / October 2004
Now, mostly when I get to working up an account of my comings and goings in the UK I ramble on about what tube I took, who bought me a pint or the chicken and chips I scored late night on my way back to my Auntie Joanie’s.
Thing is that the actions of our current American empir..er, I mean administration as well as the prospect of a second Bush term is kinda eating at me. And I came to find over pint after pint in pub after pub that, despite what the White House or the mainstream media would like us to believe, there’s quite a few folks outside of America that are more than just a little concerned with not only what Dubya & Co. has been up to, but how much more he can fuck things up if “given” a second term.
Talking to folks the one thing that I kept hearing over and over was, “ this is the one election where the whole world should be allowed to vote”.
And if that was a possibility, well sir, ol’king George would most certainly be unceremoniously “de-throned”. To get an idea of what the rest of the world thinks about our boy alls ya gotta do is check out a report put together by the University of Maryland with help with the folks from Global Scan titled,” Global Public Opinion on the US Presidential Election and US Foreign Policy”.
Beyond a lot of other stuff the report’ll tell ya how things would play out in upwards of some 35 countries, ( Bush only wins 3 and in 2 it’s a tie). And just for kicks you can see what folks who live in the countries that make up the “Coalition of the Willing” think of Bush’s foreign policy, (uhm, it’s so not good ).
Course there’s some of you who would go on and on ‘bout how these
are just numbers. Thing is that all the folks I got to talking to are not just
numbers, they’re real people. and this is what some of had to say.
Iain Stuart Dootjon, LLB, London
iaindootjon@hotmail.com“I was dismayed when the Prime Minister of my country was FOUND OUT. The full truth yet to emerge.
I accept that at certain times and for various reasons a leader cannot tell his people the truth, BUT everytime you exercise your franchise and vote you get the chance to contribute / change things. The current USA president is (arguably) a pretender. He was not elected according to the democratic principles. OK, it’s just numbers.Let’s look at the record:
Where do you Americans citizens look?
To documentaries by M. Moore? (which won awards)
To your media?? CNN?? Fox?At least my (tainted) leader (T. Blair) holds a conference where the hecklers are reported in the newspapers. In my country the head of the BBC (Greg Dyke) had to resign because that TV company exposed dirty deals going on.
We here (in the UK) are beginning to understand the truth. That we (inventors of Parliament) we (proud defenders of DEMOCRACY) are being lied to by our leaders. And when it is reported heads roll (thank goodness metaphorically) but you MAY NOT know all the things that are being done in your name on ‘behalf’ of your country.”
Vanessa Griffin, Brighton
vg32@sussex.ac.uk“Dear George Bush,
Please stop the killing, end the occupation – don’t be an arsehole man – another world is possible. 40 million Americans without healthcare is not acceptable !!!
Yours, Vanessa Griffin”
Garry Robson, Brighton
lord_vagrant@lycos.co.uk
“Biggest threat to life on the planet right now is America, or rather the American administration. Only other threat that big is AIDS. And the American government is making that worse too.You couldn’t really mess things up this bad unless you were either;
A. Really stupid
B. You’re doing it on purposeOn the anti-war march in London, before the USA & UK invaded IRAQ, more people were in the streets than for any other public demonstration. There were more people even than those who celebrated ‘D-Day’.
Mr. Blair said we were all ‘well meaning’ & we didn’t know what we were doing.
Who’s sorry now ?"
Lloyd Ellis, London
lloydellis@blueyonder.co.uk“Basically its seems to me that the USA is deciding how the world should be run.
Can one country decide that?
On the surface Bush is saying it's in the interests of a free world, but doesn't he just mean a free market? We all know that the war on Iraq was purely for oil, but we in other countries worry that US citizens are so controlled by corporate media and nationalism
that most of them can't see what's really happening...What worries me as well is Bush's clear determinism on the issue. It comes across to us as arrogance and stubbornness...
He criticizes Kerry for changing his views on the war in the light of new evidence...
Yes, Mrs.Thatcher was not for turning either and she was wrong and inflexible too...
Do you really want a president who is incapable of changing his mind, or even admitting he was wrong?
We live in democratic countries apparently, but the rest of the world is not so lucky... it may have dictatorship thrust upon it from all angles and that includes from us. If Bush is now the King of the world, did the world vote for him? Maybe we should have a free vote on who should govern our planet...
After all aren't the UN our guardians not the USA?
USA and UK should really watch their step.
Please don't vote for Bush. I know a lot of people will, but democracy is all about change and sending messages and challenges to the people who say they are working in our best interests but in the end seem to be serving themselves.”
Barney Wade, Brighton
b.wade@brighton.ac.uk“Hey cowboy, we’d like our planet back now if you don’t mind. Anytime at the start of November would be fine”
Nigel Charles, London
nigel.charles@rnid.org.uk“I've been mulling over what to say about the Iraq war.
I have to say that I started off very much sitting on the fence prior to and after war broke out. It was very hard back then to make judgments about whether Saddam had the capacity to launch chemically armed missile attacks. I felt at the time inclined to give Tony Blair the benefit of the doubt and assume that he had evidence about the threat posed that he understandably could not make public. But now we know that no such evidence existed, that there was absolutely no link between Saddam and Al-Qaida (and therefore 9/11) and that the advice was that any Iraq war would destabilize the region and would fuel terrorist activity in the West.
It now also seems clearer than ever that the US invasion was motivated by a mix of revenge for Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in the 90's and a means of serving US oil, military and other big business interests.
OK, Saddam is an utter bastard but is getting rid of him and lining the pockets of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and all their friends worth the price of the slaughter of Iraqi civilians (some estimates are that 10, 000 have been killed by 'collateral' damage), the price being paid by the West (such as the Bali and Madrid bombs) and the ever present risk of being blown up in London?
I don't think so."
”Okaythen, so there you have it, uhm, can only hope that maybe some of my fellow Americans who still don’t get it will pick up on what these good folks are saying.
Be well. Much peace.
Til next time, I ain’t nothing but breadfoot
 |
www.breadfoot.com | www.myspace.com/jeeziepeezie |