We are Family

[curt]

We don't need another / a new discussion to prove it.

It is as it is.

Let this "fred" (discussion thread) live under the theme .......

long live this family

brothers, sisters, brethern, dogs, cats and birds, ants and flees, water and air and gas and Clare and Jim and him and the window Simm (??) and you and me and he and she and we and them and us and puss (???) and fish and the dish (it's on) and paper and pen.

Yip.

[littleoldme]

I like the second one best Curt. I never feed the geese.

[BO]

Hey, how about...

Obama fingers you!

or...

Make Obama fingers, not war.

or...

Resist the hand of US oppression. Have an Obama finger today!

Ok, that's enough.

[Mouse]

I like "Fascists are US."

Hello dears. Been overwhelmed by reading and stuff. I was in New Scotland Yard for a meeting a couple of weeks ago, and gave a copy of my poem "It was not a taser" (written on this forum) to Lord Somethingorother, and another copy to a policeman. Then I walked to Russell Square without a map, taking the smaller roads, and my sense of direction worked beautifully. Very impressive. And what an interesting walk.

Been thinking about a banner myself, though I have decided to stay at home due to extremely sensitive nature and not very happy heart and joints and things. Besides which if any bones break these days they don't mend so easily and there's no-one to help in the practical sense since the young ones have no time and not a clue how to wield a hammer or a saw. My dog needs me.

London demonstrations took on a different colour a few years ago when the police coralled EVERYONE, including demonstrators, tourists and shoppers, into a mass and refused to allow anyone out for any reason for seven hours. Mass public detention.

But the banner I've been thinking of currently reads: "Who is Profiting? Who, Truly, is Served?"

[curt]

More Fred food......

they say it's gonna rain tomorrow. This is good news. We'll be attending the demo in Frankfurt instead of working in the garden (not when it rains), cleaning or riding motorbikes (not when it rains) or just playing lazy and gathering a few rays of sun (not when it rains). 20K persons are expected in Berlin & 20K in Frankfurt. London will have her own demo tomorrow and a few more cities across Europe are expected to join. Here's a short video clip in German. There was a demo in Warsaw this week and it ran under the very same motto ; we're not going to pay for your crisis. I wish I had a camera, a digital one I could use. My sign is finished. It's small enough to pack in my bag and hold in one hand. One one side, it says "Fascists -R- US". The letters US are colored red, white and blue. On the flip side, I wrote "If you liked Bush, you're gonna LOVE Obama". I'll be meeting up with a few friends at the station. Our average age is 50. The plan is for me to lead the group to meet up with another group of good people I know, a few streets down, just to say hello and exchange smiles. There will be two demo routes in Frankfurt that will converge at the Roemer. Oscar Lafontaine is scheduled to deliver his bla bla. I've never seen Oscar in person. Once we've had enough, we'll be crossing the Main river to the south to dine at a place called "Manitou". They say the place serves American Indian food. WTF? Whatever. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, the excitement, the buzz of walking through the financial capitol of the EU and carrying my sign for the Press to make snapshots of. If it gets violent, we know how to book and where to book to. Been there, done that. Same city as a matter of fact. Man, that was a long time ago.

Wir zahlen nicht für eure Krise! - für eine solidarische Gesellschaft!

[curt]

We made it home in one piece. I made a few stupid mistakes and ended up smack dab in the middle of the black bloc. Push came to shove and the incident almost sparked a riot. Luckily for me, one member of the bloc told the others to back off and leave me go. 25K people gathered in and around the Roemer which resembled a ballon filled with water and about to burst. As Oscar Lafontaine took the stage, the verbal assaults were escalated. It was so loud we couldn't hear what Oscar was saying -and his voice was amplified-. Oscar had to be protected with umbrellas as members of the black bloc started throwing things at the stage. A fire was started on the other side of the fountain as I told my wife and friends "we gotta go NOW". What ticked the black bloc off? My Baseball cap. It has the German Flag colours along the sides with GERMANY stitched on either side. I learned a lesson today. The extreme left is only inches from the extreme right. This isn't going to play well on any of the upcoming demos. Sorry friends but I'm a non-violent leftist. I can't go for that kind of shit.

[Mouse]

Glad you're both home safe.
When you say the black bloc do you mean fascists? I remember marching against fascists 30 years ago in London, it was good fun. The police didn't let us collide and tempers were kept, the weather was nice, what more could you ask?

We knew you wouldn't want to hurt anyone, Curt. Me too, can't abide violence.
Was feeling a bit torn up about not going to town today, spent the time with my friend Small. We sowed seeds in trays, poppies called 'Falling In Love' and some cornflowers.

[curt]

Mouse, the black bloc fascists? They sure as hell acted like fascists today. To better understand how I can say this, we first have to look at the meaning of the word fascist. The black bloc is the black bloc. They are neither anarchists, nor leftists, nor anti-fas, nor neo-nazis. The black bloc is the black bloc. I seriously doubt the black bloc knows what it wants except to undermine our efforts to demonstrate peacefully. What I saw 1st hand in Frankfurt today and what I can be certain happened in Berlin today was a black bloc that sparked violence in order to weaken our movement. Either that, or they have a death wish.

[BO]

Yeow. Dem dudes be sensitive. You weren't hittin' on one of their bitches were you?

On the bright side...at least you get to protest over there. Looks like our local Seattle protest on 4-11 has drawn a hoard of 180 so far. Been ten years since the 'Battle in Seattle.' The natives are getting restless. But unless the G20 comes to town, there isn't really much reason to hold a protest. Bummer.

[curt]

"You weren't hittin' on one of their bitches were you?"

No punches were thrown. But yes. How did you guess? Oh, you mean "hittin' on" as in making an amorous advance. No way! She knocked my baseball cap off my head after verbally abusing me for looking like a fucking parrot. How was I supposed to know we were required to wear nothing but black if we're to be accepted as NORMAL?

The battle in Seattle....the black bloc fucked that one up too. Starbucks it was. Real fucking cute. Same methods here today. But these kids are nothing compared to the bloc that ripped the Seattle Starbucks up. I don't like how they fuck our demos up like that. We need them about as much as we need the brown ones, namely not at all.

[littleoldme]

Glad your ass is okay. Times have changed, but the people haven't.

[Mouse]

Someone has just been really mean to me for just being slightly daft and merry about that Danish film, said I should stick to painting and poetry. Nasty about it. Hmph. Hurt my feelings. And that's there in such an important place at such an important moment in history, and some self-important killjoy comes along and stands on my lace handkerchief with his great muddy boots. Again. Bastard. There's always a spare. Bastard that is. There is not always a spare handkerchief.

There. That will do for now. Though I may still cry. I'm going to leave the room now.

[hannah j]

who was that, send them to me, i am in the mood to go all medieval etc.....!!!! i hope my gentle ribbing about canada geese didn't have the same effect....i needed a feel good time and so am watching Monarch of the Glen on netflix on demand, helps me tremendously.