MP says ‘St Paul's Cathedral 'like a shanty town' after anti-capitalist protest’http://www.metro.co.uk/news/879584-st-pauls-cathedral-like-a-shanty-town-after-anti-capitalist-protest
Protestors camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral have left the landmark looking like ‘a third-world shanty town’, according to MP Mark Field.
‘It looks like a third world shanty town. I have been out to places like India were they have them cheek by jowl with gleaming new buildings – it looks just like that.’'
What an idiot that man is………….maybe he hasn’t quite grasped the fact that those inequalities, the poor living in shanty towns right next to the rich who live in their ’gleaming new buildings’….
ARE CAUSED BY THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM, THE SAME SYSTEM THE PROTESTERS ARE PROTESTING AGAINST.
OF COURSE they look like shanty towns. That is, as you noted, a very apt metaphor for what is happening in our society.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, did you know those buttons onthe bottom: (Share/email/+1/Tweet/Like) can be removed?
There are always two sides to a story. I know for a fact the busiesses in the centre of Madrid were greatly affected when the 'Indignados' were camping there for several months. I was happy I didn't have to go to the centre during that time because it would have been next to impossible. Other people's rights must also be respected, and many times people working in the area weren't permitted to enter to go to their jobs.
ReplyDeletehi Bennet, and thanks, no I didn't know you could get rid of those buttons, that would be a good idea..how??
ReplyDeletehow to remove them?
ReplyDeleteHaving a brain is not a compulsory requirement to become an MP.
ReplyDeletequestion if they were invited to stay initially, on the condition they were not to become a nuisance, and that is
ReplyDeletewhat they became so the st. paul church has ever right in asking them to leave, and when that happened they
became trespassers, why should they be celebrated for breaking the law..............
It always amazes me that people use 'breaking the law' as the ultimate reason for not doing something. There are so many instances in our history that demonstrate the need to break the law in order to change the law. To name but a few obvious ones.... would for example Nelson Mandala agree that breaking the law is always wrong? I think not, or how about Gandhi?. These are pretty obvious examples but what about the slavery abolitionists? should they have meekly complied to inhumane and unjust laws, what about those brave women who fought for universal suffrage? were they wrong to break the law? Before reformers fought for minimal minimal employment laws children were regularly killed and maimed running under huge industrial looms in the mills. Women and children worked long long hours in mines without breaks, without any regard to their safety, without ever seeing daylight. Were people wrong to protest against this in order to change the law??
ReplyDeleteThe anti-capitalist protesters are following in the footsteps of all of these brave people by protesting against a system that is inherently unjust, a system that embraces social injustice and enables the vast majority of wealth and income to be held in the hands of the few.
That was called civil disobedience way different than doing what this rag tag group is doing, did the women who marched, break or damage private property, or allow rapes to happen within the encampments, no I do not think so, and for them to say the are following the tenets that Martin Luther King called for is an embarrassment to his memory
ReplyDeletewhat the OWS movement is doing is not called civil disobedience, this is called breaking the law..........
ReplyDeleteif you read the actual reports of the time, the court records etc of the time (s) you will see the authorities viewed those incidences in the same was as todays authorities see the present protesters. All of those people broke the law. It's exactly the same, just another time, another place, another fight and another label. My point is.. people all through our history have broken the laws of their time in order to fight social injustice therefore 'its against the law' does not really stand up as argument.
ReplyDeletemaybe you should buy yourself a good history book.............all of the movements and people I mentioned broke the law, many appearde in court and had criminal convictions for their actions.
ReplyDeletebut the only laws they broke were civil disobedience laws, and for your information I had the very best history books, 3 relatives that lived thru what you are talking about, plus the pictures and by no means can erecting tents and creating a nuisance so bad that business's close down for the safety of their workers, I have been to the OWS facebook sites and find their list of wants as nothing more than a laundry list of complaints and protesting in the wrong place. They should be camping around 1600 Pennsylvania, DC because that is the cause of the current economic problems that we have, they are protesting the very corporations they are using to get their message out I call that ironic, and are they paying for the use of the internet access or are the leeching off private business's as it has been reported.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother broke the employment barrier to be the very first female train conductor in the states, her mother marched in the women's suffrage marches, My grandmother who was full blood native american indian marched along with my grandfather on my dads side in the civil rights marches. so please I do know the difference between what these whiners are doing compared to what other did according to history. besides with these college kids NOBODY put a gun to their head to sign for the student loans, if you need to know you can check out a name regarding student loans this person had her case regarding her student loans go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Court turned down the appeal from the dept of education so she won her court case in erasing her student loans,................so yes I do know my history..........
ReplyDeleteetc etc etc.................
ReplyDeleteok now I get it..............you're an angry American man, I didn't realise I was talking to an American, I thought I was talking to another Brit specifically about what is happening at St Pauls and about various European protest movements throughout history You must be very proud of you long list of relatives who fought for the rights of others, thank you for sharing that with us.
sorry but I am not angry at all, I am a Native American Native Indian
ReplyDeleteare the two mutually exclusive ?
ReplyDeleteyeah, I am not angry nor have any stress, I have no reason to get upset or angry because when I see things like this happen I just laugh because they protest in the wrong places and for the wrong reasons, and my other half ancestry is in scotland my ancestor lost her head you may have heard of her Mary Queen of Scotland...............lol
ReplyDeleteyou could have fooled me, I didn't see a lot of laughter in your responses, but I sense anger.Why do you think St Pauls is 'the wrong place'. It's the perfect place, its as close to the London Stock Exchange as possible, they tried to camp right outside the Stock Exchange but were prevented from setting up camp there. They are getting maximum publicity, the issues are already dividing the church and that has to be a good thing. Christianity has played it safe for too long, now it has to stand up and be counted. no more sitting on the fence for St Pauls, they have to decide. Are they with the 99% or the 1%
ReplyDeleteand why are the reasons wrong?? The whole economic system needs to be changes, it does nothing to tinker around the edges of a system that fails the majority of people and favours the few.
When they wre asked to leave they should have done so
ReplyDeletewhy?? what is the point of a protest that meekly goes home when asked. Did any of your relatives pack up and go home when asked? If you want to achieve any thing you don't just give in when asked, thats silly and pointless
ReplyDeletealso....................that is not the original reason you gave, originally you said
ReplyDelete''They should be camping around 1600 Pennsylvania, DC because that is the cause of the current economic problems that we have, they are protesting the very corporations they are using to get their message out I call that ironic, and are they paying for the use of the internet access or are the leeching off private business's as it has been reported.''
and more recently you said
''with these college kids NOBODY put a gun to their head to sign for the student loans, if you need to know you can check out a name regarding student loans this person had her case regarding her student loans go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Court turned down the appeal from the dept of education so she won her court case in erasing her student loans,............... ''
and then you said
''they protest in the wrong places and for the wrong reasons, ''
and now you say
''they were asked to leave and they should''
so..............what do you REALLY have against the protest at St Pauls??
they have the same list of complaints over in the UK, as they have over here, where we have the complaints against congress when they were bailing out companies that really didnt need it between 2007 and 2010. just like you all are going thru the bailout of other countries with the euro...............
ReplyDeleteand it is the system that creates these problems that the protesters are against...............so what do you have against them?
ReplyDeletetaking over private property and depriving people of said private property the church stated they could stay as long as they had not become a nuisance and they have and were asked to leave, its the rule of law that needs to be followed if they are to be taken seriously. I mean all of europe has experienced what was called the peace benefit allowing them to forgo keeping their own military and going on a spending spree on social service programs that were more like a cross between communism and socialism mixture and now that system is failing...
ReplyDeleteyou obviously don't understand the law concerning land ownership around St Pauls. The Church does not own that land, the land the protesters occupy has been divided into at least 7 different plots dating back to the middle ages, some is common land which means its land for 'common use' ie owned by the people, some is owned by the corporation of London ( again owned by the people of London) some is traditionally owned by the crown. The only legal reason the church has for forcing the protesters off the site is if they can persuade the courts that the protest causes a health and safety hazard, and this could take months through the courts. The protesters go to great lengths NOT the cause health and safety problems, they work with the firefighters to ensure all exits are kept clear and are meticulous about liter etc. The closure of St Pauls was NOT ordered by the Fire dept, the fire dept accepted that there was no health and safety issue. St Pauls was closed on the say so of the church elite.
ReplyDeleteAs opposed to the US that went on a spending spree bombing Iraq and Afghanistan. Your derogatory use of the term socialism gives me a big (but not the first) hint of your world view.
ReplyDeleteThe US is failing as well, our infant mortality is that of many African countries, many have no health care, many are hungry. The UK protestors do not want Europe and the UK to go the way of the over-Capitalized US.
I don't know what you have been told but it has little resemblance to the truth, there has been no 'spending spree', benefit cuts have been made time and time again over the last few years. As for your comment 'cross between communism and socialism'' I don't think you understand what the terms actually mean. I know Europe is a more socialist political entity than America, and I'm very thankful for that. Europe has its problems, which is why there are protesters, but we have less inequality than America, the gap between the rich and the poor is bad enough here, but much worse there, every one in Europe has access to health care and Education, again I'm thankful for that but there are many Americans who are not that lucky. Which is why I don't see your 'socialist' comment as an insult.............actually its a compliment.
ReplyDeleteBUT...............I think we now have the REAL reason you are against the protesters, and its simply because you support the capitalist system the protest movement aims to overthrow. We could have saved a lot of 'beating about the bush' as we say here if you had simply admitted that in the first place
An excellent point, Loretta. Then again, just about everyone has less inequity than America. I would like us to move towards socialism; that will sadly not happen in my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThat I think is the nub of it.................things are bad enough as they are but would be so much worse if we become more like America.
ReplyDeleteI would like us to become MORE socialist not less
ReplyDeleteSocialism failed miserably when the pilgrims tried it at plymouth rock after the left england and europe behind
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think we have learned something in the intervening 400 (almost) years. Some of us have, some of us...not so much.
ReplyDeleteif the best you can do is cite some piece of ancient thats history 400+ years old ( and dubious anyway).............. its not convincing.
ReplyDeleteWhat is convincing, is the utter failure of the capitalist system to provide for the needs of the people in recent years.........far more relevant.
Well, it is the best he can do. Socialism has raised the standard of living just about every other time and place it has been tried.
ReplyDeleteNo but every time it is attempted it ends in failure because the human spirit needs challenge not mediocrity
ReplyDeleteI for one would be ashamed of standing in line for govt hands outs if I have the ability to be successful without the govt assistance
ReplyDeletewell it has challenge now, record levels of poverty, a rich poor divide that grows daily, a financial elite that values profit over people and a system that is so successful in maintaining the wealth for the few that financial institutions the world over are doing every thing they can to protect the wealthy at the expense of the poor............is that challenge enough for you?? If you want to talk about systems not working, look at the capitalist system, no one can seriously claim that system is working well........except the elite few of course.
ReplyDeleteHow many Americans are denied basic health care curtisy of the capitalist system?, how far does unemployment have to go before you will recognise that capitalism is not working?
Oh...........remind me again... which country is rich enough to bail the rest of us out?? Not that I advocate their repressive type of socialism, but it makes you think doesn't it
good for you...........so what??...............if you are unemployed and there are no jobs to be had what do you propose? that children are allowed to starve?? that people are left to die without health care??..........you live in a country like that if you want to, but god help your fellow countrymen and thankfully I don't have to share it with you.
ReplyDeleteIts not about government hand outs, its about being a civilised society that cares for its fellow citizens. A society that puts people welfare before big company profits. a society that is truly democratic, where the little people have a say, where big business and multinationals don't own and control every thing.
Your 'gov handout' attitude is so small minded, you need to look at the bigger picture.
What can you expect in Third World banana republic with no bananas like this!
ReplyDeleteWho cares what a Tory MP thinks anyway, this spawn of a NATO stormtrooper wouldn't know the real world if he tripped over it by accident.
Field is married to celebrity agent, Victoria Elphicke (sister of the Conservative MP for Dover, Charlie Elphicke). They live in Westminster and Majorca with their son, Frederick William Crispian Field, born on 19 December 2007, and their daughter, Arabella Matilda Catherine Field, born in June 2011.
A parasite on the unemployed and the exploiter of other peoples labour, he became a director of his own employment agency, Kellyfield Consulting from 1994 until 2001, but after being elected to Parliament he sold his share of that business to a consortium led by his former business partner.
He is a Con-Dem 'spook' last year Field was appointed by Cameron to the Intelligence & Security Committee which means he works for the CIA.
This is no doubt why he is currently Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Azerbaijan; Venture Capital & Private Equity; and Business Services.... in other words he is a Wall Steet patsy, a NATO born and bred imperialist flunky and a CIA asset, who lives half his life in the Balearics sipping Sangria paid for by us.
So what he says is not his own thoughts or opinions, he talks bollocks for the occupying power and anyone who will pay him enough, alas he is just an empty barrel clanking away somewhere between Westminster and Palma.... and he is of no real import a BBC and Sky News celeb arranged by his wife who is in the business of servicing celebs as indicated above.
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