Friday, August 24, 2007

The Past Fortnight's Soapie That is APEC

Jeanette Howard is hosting the first partner’s Sunday lunch at Bondi beach which holds the Festival of the Winds on the first day of spring. Bondi has now been declared an exclusion zone specifically the Icebergs restaurant. Apparently Mr Clark does not always fly with Mrs Clark so his appearance will be a hot topic. My attention has been drawn to the humour of such an event should Hilary win. Mrs Bush will not be in attendance. I am concerned for the kites however.


I accept there is the issue of terrorism for obvious reasons. It would have to be Blofeld the terrorist to plan an attack at such a major event. I'm sure they have that under control. Why are the police trying to petrify protesters with fear . They are doing so with a provocative display of power which will almost certainly ensure police brutality as the fringe left march to do battle. It will inevitably be a massacre. The best outcome for the police is that the tactics used by their comparative equivalent, the Roman army will work as efficiently on the greater protest with their likeness to Boudica's warbands, who incidentally for police resemble hoons and teenagers in that they only have confidence in numbers. The reason is because they only have strength without their numbers. By scaring away the bulk of protesters for whom having a file on them would feel invasive and a potential impediment to life, then the flames of battle are snuffed on the striker like a soggy match and would achieve nothing more than to impotently cower in awe of the might of the law and the common Australian. The protest’s only chance is numbers. Odds have been against them on the last several occasions of expected large turn out demonstrations. This time the police have:

  • 500 periodic detention prison beds have been cleared for the weekend nights.
  • The power to search and arrest on suspicion.
  • A myriad of exclusion zones. As spectators they can appear somewhat kaleidoscopic
  • 5km of concrete and steel fence.
  • A Water cannon (which I remember from seeing in videos of police brutality in Pinoche’s Chile).
  • It has been reported that members of potential protest groups have been contacted by authorities to be informed they are under surveillance.
  • Police and protesters are still negotiating routes, and you would assume they will not get within sight of the leaders.

I recommend for the protesters they do as the Brits and form tightly packed wedges, to break the disciplined lines and funnel them unto the mercy of the mob. I doubt this will happen. Instead they will probably adopt the martyr march or engage in some guerrilla skirmishes. I’d hate to be those guys, either of them. Possibly it will all fizzle, with socialists staying at home with their pipes, but I suspect more than at least one side is rearing for a fight.


The problem is if that of collateral damage. Especially the innocent youth sort of collateral damage. Apparently their minds are like porcelain dolls. The recruitment of teenagers is essential for Resistance because teenagers are angry and like sticking it to the man; Resistance need numbers and someone to cause a scene. They sadly make themselves extremely easy to demonize as they only ever seem to play to people’s prejudices even on their many interviews this couple of weeks. For most people, thei media appearances only confirm their fears so I doubt it will have helped their cause unless hundreds of thousands of teenagers decide to rebel and go to the protest mum and dad forbade because they feared of their safety. Safety is such a jerk wad concern.


Worse for Resistance, they went to Davidson High who will be performing their ‘Black Knight II’, the sequel of ‘Black Night’ a few years back for the Rock Eisteddfod which will coincide with Mr Bush’s stay. President Bush is depicted in both in a not necessarily good light.. As you can see their mastery of language rivals ‘Anna wrecks your life like anorexia life’ or maybe emotion sickness. Still they are teenagers, who generally seem pretty on the ball. You would hope so considering some of them are less than a year off being able to vote. The piece is the teachers ‘concept’ and this has lead to claims of indoctrination. Oddly all the student vox pops hinted some level of free thought. Some just wanted to dance. John Della Bosca said he does not think the President of the United States would be attending the Eisteddfod. Julia Bishop won the idiot award for claiming that the piece was inappropriate for the Eisteddfod because it was not in the theme of the event's ‘drug and alcohol free’ message. Resistance and Bishop were both roundly condemned.


What happens when the first teen is oppressed? Do they need protecting from evil ideologues lurking both within the school and in universities?


Barry O’Farrell suggested a brilliant idea: put them in a scenic place where they can be seen having a reasonably peaceful protest all around the world, as this is a Sydney showcase to the entire world even; not that it really matters as they will mostly only see pictures of the novelty clothes their leaders are wearing. Could this offer a possibly high school child friendly protest experience?


Should we protest? George Bush is gone in a year. He has pretty well already been declared the worst president ever.


Will this be an historic event? Should we attend for the world to see our country’s proud tradition of democracy and free speech? Should we attend because of the event itself?


Should we see the kites instead? Watch for Mr Clark with our binoculars?


Will there be the use of the policeperson’s bane, the dreaded piss grenade?

BAM! SOCK! DAMAGE! HURT!

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This is intended to be a discussion of news and current events as relevant to Australia specifically, or around the world. The exact format is yet to be decided and hopefully will evolve naturally enough.