- 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.
Pete Johnson and Joe Turner: Roll 'Em Pete
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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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