recollection…

by JacopoBelbo84

Posted to Poetry and Politics on 2003-11-20 09:50:00

Whats there to say?
the feeling of absolute IMPOTENT rage that swells you up like a fuckin bagpipe, the loathing that fills you as you instantly realise that you will NOT CHANGE A THING, or the sense of utter disgust at the people around you for not going further… To actually challenge the government, instead of this mealy-mouthed, liberal, wimpish way of half-hearted protest…

Let me tell you a story… I’m young… And the stereotype with people who are of my age, who are implicit with politics, is that of ‘the angry young man’, the extreme phase which they ‘will grow out of’… I’ve supported a fair few ‘extreme’ left-wing causes, the British CP, the Social Anarchists…i’ve been on the Mayday Marches and caused my fair share of hellraising…But there came a period, when i turned 19, that I ‘wised up’, as they say, I realised that the only way to change something was through democratic means… a peaceful protest…
Well, let me tel you now…i Refute this utterly… It is a bunch of fucking lies… I urge all of you, whatever age, whatever country, to read up on Althusser, because he is absoultely right… This protest has been the epiphany, now i realise that there is only ONE way to change things…and that is through VIOLENCE…through a wilful act of utter destruction, to attack and consume the establishment (which i no longer will call a democracy).
Liberalisation is a half measure that blocks our progress…tell me of one war that was over-turned by a collected mass of people and i will show you Disneyland…

a fragment of the crowd… a man holding a placard admonishing Bush for War crimes driving off in a Ford People-carrier…People SHOPPING during the protest…Others praising what Bush actually had to say…

Democracy is the rule by the people, the only thing I saw people do today was endorse the present system…

We aren’t Anti-Capitalists any more, and that has changed me, i’ve seen this wave of disinterest infect the movement since the 1998 Mayday riots…people only come because they’re spoiling for a fight or they want to go clothes shopping… I denounce this system we call ‘democracy’, its no better than the worst kind of authoritarian power, my trust in politics that mean something has been detrimentally lowered….

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