Something completely different.
Jan. 11th, 2009 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobelleI should add in here that nothing much really happened on Days One and Three: we lazed about, ate, and stayed pretty much right here about the hotel. Friday, Corey, Amy and I ate at The Patisserie, and tonight, Amy and I ate at a place called Dim T, which had exactly what you'd expect. We ate too much, went on a nice long walk, then were hungry again.
But yesterday, while we were in the Tube station, getting Oyster cards for Amy and Corey, I came upon something I didn't expect at all. Something I never saw coming: dozens of protestors for Palestine.
I'm not sure how much it made the news in the States, if at all, but there was an enormous rally against Israel here in London yesterday. I saw these people with their signs, and wondered how many of them actually knew the history of the Gaza conflict. How many of them actually studied and informed themselves as to exactly why Israel is being so harsh in its advances, and if they think the incursions are against Palestinians, or against Hamas. I stood by the side of the queue, waiting for Corey and Amy, and my hands curled into fists. "What the fuck do you know?" I wanted to scream. But I'm sure they would have said the same to me.
We walked from Picadilly, through Leicester Square, back through Soho, and finally down The Strand, in the cold wind, towards Aldwych. And as we went, one after the other came screaming down the road police vans, full of riot-gear'd cops. It wasn't a great leap to see they were heading back towards Trafalgar, and to know why. Corey nodded. "My friend told me there were plans to turn the protest into a riot in a few places." I could feel myself getting more and more grim, cold, and angry as the sirens screamed past. And I know I was thinking ill thoughts: "Are you rioting because you believe? Because you understand? Or because your friends are there and you want an excuse?" I was here for the Poll Tax Riots. I came into Picadilly as the police shoved the crowd out towards Leicester. I saw the windows of what was then Tower Record and is now some enormous CD shop I've never heard of-- how the rioters heaved rubbish bins until the windows smashed. I asked then, "What does a record store have to do with a tax? Why would you do that to the people inside that store? What the hell are you thinking?"
I know. I know. I am biased. I can feel myself getting more and more entrenched, digging in harder the more I see people protest something I so condescendingly think they can't possibly understand.
And today? BBC1 News showed the counter-protest in Trafalgar: one filled with blue and white flags in the sun. And I thought, "Ah. They understand!" But how do I know? How do I know they're any more rational than the sign-carrying yuppies and kids I saw yesterday? Because they're carrying Israeli signs? Does that mean they must be Jews? And does that, in turn, make them better?
We're isolated in the States. Not just by distance, but by apathy. And by the fact that we have so many Jews, our news is tailored differently. We don't have Al Jazeera. We side firmly with Israel. That's not the case here in England. Perhaps, then, none of this should surprise me.
I just didn't see this coming.
But yesterday, while we were in the Tube station, getting Oyster cards for Amy and Corey, I came upon something I didn't expect at all. Something I never saw coming: dozens of protestors for Palestine.
I'm not sure how much it made the news in the States, if at all, but there was an enormous rally against Israel here in London yesterday. I saw these people with their signs, and wondered how many of them actually knew the history of the Gaza conflict. How many of them actually studied and informed themselves as to exactly why Israel is being so harsh in its advances, and if they think the incursions are against Palestinians, or against Hamas. I stood by the side of the queue, waiting for Corey and Amy, and my hands curled into fists. "What the fuck do you know?" I wanted to scream. But I'm sure they would have said the same to me.
We walked from Picadilly, through Leicester Square, back through Soho, and finally down The Strand, in the cold wind, towards Aldwych. And as we went, one after the other came screaming down the road police vans, full of riot-gear'd cops. It wasn't a great leap to see they were heading back towards Trafalgar, and to know why. Corey nodded. "My friend told me there were plans to turn the protest into a riot in a few places." I could feel myself getting more and more grim, cold, and angry as the sirens screamed past. And I know I was thinking ill thoughts: "Are you rioting because you believe? Because you understand? Or because your friends are there and you want an excuse?" I was here for the Poll Tax Riots. I came into Picadilly as the police shoved the crowd out towards Leicester. I saw the windows of what was then Tower Record and is now some enormous CD shop I've never heard of-- how the rioters heaved rubbish bins until the windows smashed. I asked then, "What does a record store have to do with a tax? Why would you do that to the people inside that store? What the hell are you thinking?"
I know. I know. I am biased. I can feel myself getting more and more entrenched, digging in harder the more I see people protest something I so condescendingly think they can't possibly understand.
And today? BBC1 News showed the counter-protest in Trafalgar: one filled with blue and white flags in the sun. And I thought, "Ah. They understand!" But how do I know? How do I know they're any more rational than the sign-carrying yuppies and kids I saw yesterday? Because they're carrying Israeli signs? Does that mean they must be Jews? And does that, in turn, make them better?
We're isolated in the States. Not just by distance, but by apathy. And by the fact that we have so many Jews, our news is tailored differently. We don't have Al Jazeera. We side firmly with Israel. That's not the case here in England. Perhaps, then, none of this should surprise me.
I just didn't see this coming.