I went to the demonstration against the Israeli bombing campaign in Lebanon yesterday and it was great that there was such a big turn out. There’s been a suprising lack of mobilisation up until this point, and my friend Chris and I have had to resort to instituting and manning our own LSE anti-war group in LSE because there has been NOTHING going on at all! So we just printed out some leaflets and stuck some posters up around college. The place is now swarming with annoying American summer school people, who pay like 30 000 dollars (so my American sources tell me) just to come here for a few weeks. It’s like one giant nightmarish Spring Break and on Friday night we even had to take refuge from them and sit in front of the library with our drinks because they had taken over the uni pub and the whole road infront of it! Imagine! It’s actually depressing what an apolitical bunch they are in this school, considering what this institution used to represent in the 60s and 70s. Now the LSE is synonymous with yuppyness and investment banking and annoying gelled hair. The place might as well be subsidised by The City. (Actually, come to think of it, it probably is..) Anyway, I’m not saying I’m morally superior to anyone (well maybe people who read the Daily Mail), and I did have a wavering moment where I whimpered slightly at the thought of sacrificing my Saturday morning lie in. Then I watched the news and felt pathetic and ashamed and realised there was no excuse not to get out of bed a few hours earlier than I would normally , if by doing so in my own teeny tiny microscopic way I might help to draw the eyes of the world onto what is going on in the Middle East. It was great to see the centre of London closed off and taken over by the march, which started at Embankment, went up to Trafalgar Sq, then up to Piccadilly Circus and by the US embassy. To be fair, there were some slightly dubious propos heard at times and a few too many Hezbollah flags than I would care to admit to. But its always like that and there’s always a degree of reactionary aggressivity, usually from Muslim teenage boys who some of them you get the feeling are just in it for the craic. Or are just generally angry and will direct their anger at anything. But there was also a fairly noticable Jewish contingency, with people from the Jews for Justice group and a handful of Orthodox Jews where also protesting, as well as lof families and people with prams and a whole lot of Lebanese families. To annoying lazy cop-outs who say that demonstrations don’t change anything or that they have to wash their hair or go and check out the sales, I would say that demonstrations might not have the capacity to directly influence state action or Texan bible-bashing megalomaniacs with sub-intellectual capacities, for that matter; but to sit back and not say anything is pathetically apathetic and sends the message that the rest of the world doesn't feel concerned and just doesn’t really care if their governments are failing to react. If anything, I would like to distinguish myself from this mythical monolith that is “The West” and for people in Lebannon, in the West Bank and Gaza, in the Occupied territories, in Iraq, and everywhere else America and Europe has reeked havoc (either directly or through its inaction), that there are actually people out there in 'The West' who give it shit and who feel indignant about what is going on. Right, that's the end of my pseudo-politcal rant. I'll be quiet now!
