- His death is of course very sad for the people who knew and loved him personally.
- He should have been evicted from outside Parliament years. The right to protest doesn't give anyone the right to commandeer a site which they don't own for decades at a time. It was self indulgent and obnoxious of him to protest in the way he did.
- His protest should not be conflated with the wider antiwar movement that arose in response to the invasion of Iraq- he began his one man demonstration in 2001- before 9/11 when we weren't at war with anybody. His original protest was against the sanctions imposed on Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991, which Saddam had abused in such a way as led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. However the widespread deaths from the sanctions had not been happening for a couple of years by the time Haw started his protest. He was merely an opponent of whatever the West happened to be doing.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Brian Haw
Three points on the recently deceased "peace campaigner" Brian Haw:
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7 comments:
I wonder if Brian Haw and the rest of the "Peace Camp" ever noticed the irony of protesting against all kinds of wars under the amused eyes of Winston Churchill: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/peace-camp-churchill/
Nonetheless, may Mr Haw rest in peace.
Rest in peace? You are obviously far more generous than I am.
Andreas- Given how long he was there I'm sure it was pointed out to him.
Perry- That's harsh, he wasn't evil just deluded and annoying.
A measure of his delusion: he died in a private clinic where he had been taken by David Icke and others to be treated for lung cancer with bicarbonate of soda. Because - they believe - cancer is a fungus. And bicarb kills fungi.
It's fitting that the anti-War folk have a deluded hobo as their mascot.
He was mad as a fish - but a true English eccentric and son of Redditch. Disagreed completely with him, but fair play to him for what my old headmaster called 'stickability'. We are the poorer for his passing.
I often wonder what his wife and kids said when he took off.
I would like to see a life-sized statue of him, complete with hat, on the exact spot of his pavement protest. I hope the Guardian can raise the funds.
Rest in peace?
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