Re: Carnival shows London's unity

GWhyte wrote:
> > Carnival has often been the ground upon which Londoners have stood
> > united against extremists, whether far-right racists, racist police or
> > terrorists. This year, it has been the launching post from which we
> > carry on our battles, both against terrorism or repressive
> > "anti-terror" legislation. The terror attacks in July have united us
> > only further, which will disappoint both the terrorists and our
> > political leaders, who seek to frighten and divide us.
>
> Do you have a serious objection to public awareness evn though it may
> frighten you???

I'm greatly in favour of public awareness. Politicians tend not to like
it so much, and that is currently very true of Blair's government.
Unluckily for Blair, the majority of British people and sections of the
media are well aware that the July bombings were payback for British
foreign policy. So while we act strongly against terrorism, we're not
going to forget who invited it here.

Blair doesn't have Bush's advantage of an insular, racist and
untravelled population, nor of massive right-wing propaganda networks
posing as news organisations. I don't know if you missed this report,
but it's been widely noted here:

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-28T181539Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-214191-1.xml

LONDON (Reuters) - A top British government official warned Prime
Minister Tony Blair last year that Britain's involvement in the Iraq
war was fostering Muslim extremism at home, according to a leaked memo
published on Sunday.

The warning was delivered just over a year before four British Muslims
carried out bombings of London's transport network, killing themselves
and 52 other people.

Two weeks later, similar attempted bombs by another group of British
residents failed to detonate.

The Observer newspaper printed a letter from Michael Jay, the top civil
servant at the Foreign Office, dated May 2004 which said invading Iraq
had made Britain a target for terrorists.

"British foreign policy and the perception of its negative effect on
Muslims globally plays a significant role in creating a feeling of
anger and impotence among especially the younger generation of British
Muslims," Jay's memo said.

"This seems to be a key driver behind recruitment by extremist
organisations," it added.

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