Sam PF's Journal - Stoppa kriget!

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March 15th, 2008
09:08 pm

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Stoppa kriget!
Went on an anti-Iraq war demonstration today, one of a number around the world to mark the fifth anniversary of the war in a few days time. Hum, trying to find a picture. Ah, here are a few. Not such a trendy activity these days, but the turnout was better than I expected - maybe up to 1,000. Dagens Nyheter said 'hundreds', which is consistent with that.

A lot of Iraqis there, who were carrying a giganimous Iraqi flag near the head of the demo. Sweden has been very good at taking in Iraqi refugees from the war, compared to other EU countries - though now they are apparently being monumentally stupid, with the immigration authorities apparently now deciding that there is not a war in Iraq, so they can refuse asylum claims to new arrivals. (Not sure of the details, whether they're actually sending people back). Also a large number of Iraqis, principally Kurds, from a previous generation of refugees, though I imagine many of their attitudes towards the war might be (understandably) rather different.

A plus point compared to the British demos was that there was a bit of a rally at the start as well as the end. With music, including a blues band from the Left Party, who gained loads of awesome points in my books by playing A las Barricadas. Also some hip-hoppers.

Lots of chanting in Swedish of course, which makes a change from the British ones - also quite good for language in terms of getting one's mouth properly round the sounds - somewhat like. I think my favourite was

Vad tänker vi om Bush?

Illa! Illa!

Hur illa?

Skit illa! Usch! Usch! Usch!

Also nice clear, slowly-spoken speeches, which is good listening practice, as my ear is lagging badly behind my reading and even my speaking. Could actually get a reasonable proportion of what they were saying, which is encouraging.

More seriously, a young Iraqi teenager, Ayat Suleiman and her father Ismail spoke - she had been badly injured by a US cluster bomb, leaving her with 65% burns. Four of her brothers, Ishak, Yakub, Yosef and Yassin (sp?) were killed in the explosion.

Cluster munitions are weapons that spread a large number - sometimes hundreds of small submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. Delivered from land or air, their aim is to act as an area-denial weapon. This makes them fundamentally indiscriminate, and even if there are no civilians in the area at the time, a significant proportion of submunitions (even so-called 'smart' ones) fail to explode, and remain as a deadly leftover - especially as a lot of them are brightly coloured and can look like children's toys. (One of Ayat's brothers did just that and brought one home, the source of the Suleimans' tragedy.) War is always hell, but cluster bombs add one more gruesome circle. There is an international campaign to ban them.

Current Music: A las barricadas
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From:[info]dorian_1337
Date:March 15th, 2008 09:18 pm (UTC)

What kind of a man are you ?

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War is an essential part of mankind, everyone should understand the profound impact, war had on the development of our race as a whole, and I am tired of reading posts such as yours, of ignorant hippies that speak without thinking. May I suggest you read some of Nietzsche or Machiavelli's work, you might find out the real importance of war !

Good Day !
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From:[info]smhwpf
Date:March 15th, 2008 09:51 pm (UTC)

Re: What kind of a man are you ?

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Yes, because children being torn to shreds by cluster bombs is an essential part of human development. Where would we be without that? Yay for mass slaughter, yay for weeping mothers and fathers, yay for traumatised ex-soldiers, what a wonderful contribution you have made to human progress!

People like you disgust me.
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From:[info]sabotabby
Date:March 16th, 2008 03:00 am (UTC)

Re: What kind of a man are you ?

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...
From:[info]dorian_1337
Date:March 15th, 2008 10:38 pm (UTC)

Humanity needs a good cleansing

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War cleanses, the weak will die, it is a part of the circle of life, those who can't survive war are useless, a hindrance to the well being of our race, the sooner you realize that not everybody deserves to exist, the better off we will all be ! In order for the strong to triumph, the weak need to die, to make room !

Good day !
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From:[info]smhwpf
Date:March 15th, 2008 11:09 pm (UTC)

Re: Humanity needs a good cleansing

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Fuck off, you pathetic Nazi troll. Hmm. I look at your Friends list, and see it contains only yourself. Says it all.

You are now banned from commenting on this journal.
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From:[info]icarus_66
Date:March 15th, 2008 11:27 pm (UTC)

Re: Humanity needs a good cleansing

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Ok this may be my first day on LiveJournal and I've only seen a sample of what it has to offer, but I wasn't prepared to see such hostility in an online community. Just because someone has a different opinion doesn't mean you have to be a total bitch about it. That sort of language wasn't called for and I think you should apologize and unban the person unless they persist further and actually say something that would warrant that kind of behavior from you.
From:[info]dorian_1933
Date:March 15th, 2008 11:35 pm (UTC)

I'm back

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The Nazi troll says, you might need a good slap woman, to teach you some manners. And by the way, Nazi is not an insult!

Good day !
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From:[info]sabotabby
Date:March 16th, 2008 03:01 am (UTC)
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I wandered around and couldn't find our demo. That's how sad Toronto demos are these days.
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From:[info]smhwpf
Date:March 16th, 2008 10:43 am (UTC)
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Shame. Some of your other demos have looked way cool mind.
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