American Expatriates to Lead the Protests Against Bush

posted by admin on Saturday November 15, @10:09AM

Update: Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic delivered an 85,000-signature petition asking Prime Minister Tony Blair to call off President Bush's visit
Several other European anti-war groups have said they will travel to London for the protests, including France's Non a la Guerre (No to War), Italy's Ya Basta (Enough's Enough) and the Axis of Peace Coalition of France, Germany and Russia. (Guardian 11/17)

Update: "A killer comes into (London) town" (SPIEGEL 11/17)
Update: Shoot-to-kill bodyguards protect Bush
Organisers fear "trigger-happy US Secret Service agents" could over-react and kill protesters (11/16)

Published on Saturday, November 15, 2003 by the lndependent/UK by Marie Wo

Americans marching beneath a banner proclaiming "Proud of My Country, Shamed by My President" will lead a demonstration against George Bush during his state visit next week. The Stop the War Coalition, which is organizing the rally, expects up to 100,000 people to take to the streets of London and express their hostility to the American President.

Trade union members, Muslim groups, environmentalists and peace activists will join forces for the march, with about a hundred US expats, who are adamant the event should be perceived as an indictment of their President, not a snub to their country.

President Bush may be subjected to the humiliating sight of an effigy of himself being dragged to the ground by anti-war protesters in London's Trafalgar Square next week. But if police and White House officials have their way, the president, who had the staunch support of Britain's Prime Minister during the Iraq war, will be spared the embarrassment of seeing a re-run of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue during the Iraq war. Photo by Reuters Graphic

Luke Robinson, 29, a website developer from the United States who has lived in Britain for four years, is among those who will attend the protest. He will be joined by American academics and City workers."Most of us love our country and won't take any anti-American sentiment but we feel this guy is leading us down a bad path," he said. "Allowing a fully fledged state visit is [sending] a bad message that Britain is really backing Bush. The pictures from this visit will definitely be used in his election campaign."

Demonstrators carrying placards reading "Bush - Blair Dumb and Dumber", "Bush Eco-terrorist" and "George W.ar Criminal", as well as blood-splattered anti-Bush banners, will gather in Trafalgar Square where a mock statue of the US President will be symbolically toppled.

Coachloads of demonstrators who oppose the war in Iraq and Mr Bush's environmental and economic policies are to be bused in from Wales, Scotland and the West Country among other points. Michael Moore, the American film maker and comedian who is known for his outspoken views on the US leader, is donating $1,000 to transport demonstrators in from Manchester. Pupils missing school, worshippers from mosques around Britain and a busload of pensioners from an old people's home in Hounslow, west London, will also join the march to express their anger at the visit. Alongside them will be members of the far-left Socialist Workers' Party, the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats, and peace demonstrators from CND and other anti-war groups. A large contingent of Greens will make their feelings known on President Bush's environmental policies. They plan to express their opposition with a week of events including a street party and an anti-Bush home-made T-shirt competition outside Buckingham Palace on Wednesday evening.

"Bush would be better off staying at home to sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming than coming to Britain," said Spencer Fitzgibbon, a former army officer and member of the Green Party executive.

The exact route of the march is still being negotiated with the Metropolitan Police, who will have 5,000 officers on duty. The protesters want to parade past the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street but police have suggested a shorter route, which would keep them away from Whitehall.

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Shoot-to-kill bodyguards protect Bush

Sunday Herald -Sunday November 16

ARMED US Secret Service agents will have the right to "shoot to kill" when they provide the bodyguard for President George W Bush on his controversial state visit to the United Kingdom this week.

...More than 100,000 protesters will take to London's streets on Thursday for the Stop The War Coalition's "Stop Bush" demonstration. Organisers fear "trigger-happy US Secret Service agents" could over-react and kill protesters. Politicians opposing Bush's visit fear over-reaction by US agents could cause "mayhem" and want the trip cancelled.

Tensions are running high between the USSS and the Metropolitan Police. Although the Met is technically in charge of the security operation, the USSS is sticking to its decision to maintain its standard "rules of engagement", which means it will be in total control of all presidential protection regardless of the fact that it is operating in the UK. This has effectively sidelined the Met.

Senior Met officers fear a protester could be killed, particularly if an exclusion zone is put in place around the president as many in the USSS wish. The Met believes that if a demonstrator were to break through, the USSS "rules of engagement" could interpret this as a threat to Bush and result in a secret service agent shooting a civilian dead.

Related Updates:

Shoot-to-kill bodyguards protect Bush
Sunday Herald, UK - 15 hours ago
... More than 100,000 pro testers are expected to take to London’s streets on Thurs
day for the Stop The War Coalition’s “Stop Bush” demonstration. ...

Protesters gear up for Bush's UK visit
Taipei Times, Taiwan - 11 hours ago
While the Stop the War Coalition, the Muslim Council of Britain, and CND are urging
more than 100,000 people to take to the streets on Thursday for what they ...
       London braces itself for demonstrations during Bush visit TUESDAY ...  - Scotland on Sunday
       American expatriates to lead the protests against Bush - Independent
       Impending Bush visit sets up clash between anti-war groups, cops - Hindustan Times
       Oregonian - and more »

Britain declares state of alert
Channel News Asia, Singapore - 15 hours ago
... The Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the
Muslim Association of Britain, which are organising the protest, vowed they ...
       Britain on alert as Bush 'bubble' comes to town - The Sunday Times (subscription)
       and more »

Bush heads to London against backdrop of dissent
Channel News Asia, Singapore - 5 hours ago
... The biggest protest is planned for Thursday, when the Stop the War Coalition -- the
group behind the dollar-signed "Stop Buêh" flyposters -- intends to pull ...
       Pomp and protest - Toronto Star
       The President and the protesters - Guardian
       Freedom to protest is beautiful, says Bush - Sydney Morning Herald
       and more »

Clark on Israel, Gore on the offensive, Democratic candidates
Aljazeerah.info - 21 minutes ago
... The Stop The War Coalition said yesterday that it had been told by the police that
it would not be allowed to demonstrate in Parliament Square and Whitehall ...

UK denies immunity to US agents during Bush visit
The Hindu, India - 1 hour ago
... Tuesday. Tens of thousands of protesters of the Stop the War coalition
are in a stand-off with Scotland Yard over the route. The ...
       'Shoot-to-kill' demand by US - Guardian
       and more »

'Scousers aren't binheads. We know when we are told salties'
Guardian, UK - 14 hours ago
... will be sending more demonstrators to London; some six coachloads, according to Mark
Hendel, a solicitor and co-ordinator of the city's Stop the War Coalition. ...
       Britain trip comes at bad time for Bush and Blair - Tri-Valley Herald
       and more »

Police reverse ban on march to avert threat of violence
Independent, UK - 16 hours ago
... The Metropolitan police last week banned Thursday's Stop the War Coalition (SWC)
march from Whitehall, partly because of security fears that al-Qa'ida ...

Just a friendly visit with lots of security
Times Picayune, LA - 8 hours ago
... Bush is "the most unwelcome visitor this country has ever received," according to
a spokeswoman for the Stop the War Coalition, which is planning the protest ...
       Broaden that special relationship - Financial Times (subscription)
       'Unprecedented' security for Bush - BBC News
       Labour cabal backs anti-war protests - The Scotsman
       BBC News - This is Local London - and more »

Islamic veils polarise French opinion
Al-Jazeera, Qatar - Nov 14, 2003
... Salma Yaqoob, the chair of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition in the UK, locked
horns with French sociologist Chahla Chafik Beski, in an evenly divided ...

APFN: What we think

APFN -Sun Nov 16

Blair’s dangerous friends need a loud and clear message

WHAT WE THINK

THERE is nothing new in reminding readers that Rupert Murdoch and George W Bush are two of Tony Blair’s friends. What is worth reflecting on is how and where these friendships are leading Blair. If the Prime Minister has been attentive to decent advice, he’ll have been adequately warned – as the playwright Brecht did in Mother Courage – “I don’t trust him, we are friends”. The relationship of Blair to Murdoch and Bush, despite the staged noises of fake warmth, Texan buddyness and antipodean camaraderie, has reeked of contractual convenience. Bush and Murdoch get what they want from their statesman pal. Bush believes some of his friend Tony’s international street cred rubs off on his lightweight credentials: Murdoch gets what he wants in any country, with any citizenship he chooses, against any regime in his way: he gets to do business assured that the wheels of whatever government he befriends are well oiled. Murdoch is a man who would become an Indian, German or Nigerian citizen tomorrow if that’s all it took to close a global deal.

Blair gets what all politicians really want – a big powerful friend, a person of substantial influence, a person who can magnify, on a larger stage, the achievements a politician wants targeted, namely his own. Blair has been ruthless in his choice of friends. Don’t ask what Tony can do for you, ask what you can do for Tony. Deliver for Tony or Tony will ignore you. During New Labour’s climb back to power, Blair’s friends were the media of the centre and soft left, the thinkers and opinion-formers who wanted an end to the Tory years. But on the advice of Alastair Campbell, Blair ignored them and instead courted, wooed and practically begged Murdoch to switch his Tory allegiance to New Labour. It was mould-breaking territory since Murdoch had spent a political generation mocking the Labour Party in the mass circulation pages of The Sun and the opinion-forming pages of The Times and Sunday Times. Murdoch has stuck with Blair, some would say, simply because Labour became the party in power and the party likely to stay there. For any global corporation such a strategy is to be expected: shareholders would question any other approach.

Now Murdoch is exacting a price for continued support for Blair. He is threatening to withdraw his media support unless Labour adopt the policies he backs. A friend in power is no longer enough for Murdoch: he wants a friend who will do it his way or else. This is contractual bullying in its most potent form and Blair would only improve his own standing if he told Murdoch, in the only language he understands, to bugger off and take his threats with him. But instead we learn that Number 10 is convulsed with anxiety at the very thought that they might have to fight the next election without The Sun on their side. It is as though they believe there is some core truth in the pathetic assertions of people like the former Sunday Times editor, Andrew Neil, who believe Labour fought elections throughout the 1980s and lost all of them simply because they didn’t have the backing of The Sun. If Blair and his advisers actually believe they must now court News International and do what Murdoch says, then they do not deserve to be in office. Policies, courage, political conviction and credibility win elections, not fear that The Sun may brand you a turnip.

Murdoch says he’s now worried over the “great dangers” of the controversial new European Constitution. Worried he says about the loss of “our” sovereignty. Now which “our” does he have in mind? Born an Australian, switching citizenship to the US for commercial reasons, married to a Chinese woman with influence over that territory, Murdoch has no right to be concerned about the “abdication of our sovereignty” nor to interfere with our sovereign political system. And it seems to have taken little or nothing for Murdoch to pronounce that Michael Howard’s new Conservative front-bench team have the making of an alternative government. But when it comes to global media magnates, and Murdoch is not alone here, rights do not really matter, what’s good for business comes first.

Now let’s turn to his other friend, George Bush. What is it about this friendship? Bill Clinton seemed a natural ally for Blair. The two seemed to click and their vision of the world seem shared. But Bush … what does Blair get out of Bush? While Blair appears to offer moral support to the suspect foreign policy of his neo-conservative right-wing cabal, Blair seems to get nothing in return. Bush has refused to move on the US’s view on everything from the International Criminal Court, to global environmental treaties which they continue to side-step, to allowing British steel into the US. Washington has denounced Blair’s initiatives on setting up a European defence force, and, on influencing peace in the Middle East, Blair has won only a lot of goodwill noise from the White House but with no sustainable action.

At any other time, a visit to this country by a US president would be a welcome gesture. And before we go any further, let us make it clear to readers that we are not anti-American, but we are certainly against the world-view of the neo- conservative Bush administration. Over the years we have built up a special relationship with the US; it is our closest ally and there is a long history of common cause to celebrate. But these are not normal times. When President George W Bush steps off Air Force One on Tuesday he comes not as a welcome guest but as a leader who has led his country and Britain into a war in Iraq which was not only overwhelmingly unpopular at the time and possibly illegal. He also comes while British troops are still fighting and being killed in Iraq.

That is why millions of ordinary British people demonstrated against the invasion of Iraq earlier this year, and that is why they will be back on the streets in London and Edinburgh this week to make sure that Bush (and the US folks back home) hears British anger. As Bush reluctantly conceded – and Blair should heed these words – it’s called democracy. To Bush’s credit, he has admitted that he is unconcerned about the demonstrations as everyone has the right to disagree with government policies.

However, this is a visit which should never have been organised. Leaving aside the historical fact that it is a dubious honour – only one US president, Woodrow Wilson was so honoured while other more deserving presidents such as Roosevelt and Eisenhower were ignored – Bush is currently presiding over a failed policy in Iraq. Not only have the Americans and their British allies underestimated, underplanned and underthought what they were going to do with Iraq, but they have failed lamentably to produce a workable plan which guarantees the safety and future wellbeing of the people of Iraq.

While Bush is being given the full photo-opportunity with the Queen and Buckingham Place to boost next year’s election campaign (having already collected the Pope), US helicopter gunships are still firing missiles into Iraqi homes, and thousands of ordinary Iraqis are being subjected to arrest and interrogation. Against all the rules of Arab hospitality, their homes are being invaded and the women subjected to the indignity of having their quarters searched by soldiers.

Only a week ago, Bush was preaching the virtues of a greater pluralism for the Middle East and with it the dawning of a new democracy which would be protected by US military might. What has happened to that grand vision? Only a week later he has changed his tune to announce a new policy which can only be called scuttle and run. With an election year ahead of him, he wants to see an end to the body-bags, anything to do with Iraq off American TV screens, and the whole subject off the political agenda. Is that what this state visit is supposed to be celebrating?

And then there is Blair. He too is not exempt from blame over Iraq. Instead of pursuing an independent foreign policy, he too readily tied his coat tails to the White House and then he used faulty intelligence as evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. There are still too many unanswered questions and too much unresolved dissatisfaction for any kind of transatlantic celebration.

So when the predicted chaos threatening to disrupt and spoil Bush’s royal party hits Britain’s streets this week, Blair should not look round for excuses. He can blame only himself – and the friends he chooses for company. And while he can choose his friends, the electorate retains the power to choose whether he remains in power. This week will be a defining moment for Blair, and the louder he hears the message the better.

A killer comes into (London) town- "Ein Killer kommt in die Stadt"

SPIEGEL -17. November 2003

Unpopulärer Gast

London bereitet sich auf den brisantesten Staatsbesuch seit Jahren vor: Sobald die Präsidenten-Maschine Air Force One mit George W. Bush und Gattin Laura an Bord Dienstagabend landet, treten Sicherheitsvorkehrungen in Kraft, wie sie die britische Hauptstadt noch nie erlebt hat.

...Die Front der Gegner des Texaners ist groß. Londons beliebter Bürgermeister Ken Livingstone machte klar, dass er Bush nicht treffen will. Stattdessen hat er verdiente Aktivisten der Antikriegsbewegung zu einem "Friedensempfang" ins Rathaus eingeladen. Bush-Kritiker in der Unterhaus-Fraktion der Labour Party forderten in einem Antrag, den unpopulären Gast wieder auszuladen. London war vergangene Woche mit Plakaten wie "Ein Killer kommt in die Stadt" oder "Fuck Bush" überzogen.

Da nach Aufrufen der Stop the War Coalition, der Vereinigung Britischer Muslime, von Amnesty International und anderen Gruppen weit über 100 000 Demonstranten erwartet werden, ist zumindest Verkehrschaos programmiert. Obwohl Blair erklärte, es sei für Bush "genau der richtige Zeitpunkt zu kommen", kann der Auftritt seines Freundes dem Premier nur schaden. "Er wird die Leute daran erinnern, was sie Blair am meisten übel nehmen: nämlich dass er mit den Vereinigten Staaten im Irak in den Krieg gezogen ist", sagt der Politologe Anthony King von der Essex University. Laut aktueller Meinungsumfrage stimmt nur ein Fünftel der Briten Bushs Irak-Politik zu.

No Shoot-To-Kill-Permission

'Shoot-to-kill' demand by US

Guardian -Sunday November 16, 2003

Home Secretary David Blunkett has refused to grant diplomatic immunity to armed American special agents and snipers travelling to Britain as part of President Bush's entourage this week.

In the case of the accidental shooting of a protester, the Americans in Bush's protection squad will face justice in a British court as would any other visitor, the Home Office has confirmed.

The issue of immunity is one of a series of extraordinary US demands turned down by Ministers and Downing Street during preparations for the Bush visit.

These included the closure of the Tube network, the use of US air force planes and helicopters and the shipping in of battlefield weaponry to use against rioters.

In return, the British authorities agreed numerous concessions, including the creation of a 'sterile zone' around the President with a series of road closures in central London and a security cordon keeping the public away from his cavalcade.

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