Sunday, October 11, 2009
Posting this on behalf of others, so I am not one of the 'we', though I know some of them and support all of them:
London trans activists call for boycott of sham demo on October 17th
We are a group of trans activists who wish to make known our concerns about a demo, claiming to support the depathologisation of trans people, in London on 17th of October. The facebook group for the demo can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147494409183
The description of the event reads:
"Being transgendered is not a mental illness. We are simply part of the diversity of humanity. Gender Identity Disorder is therefore not a valid diagnosis. Homosexuality we removed as a mental health diagnosis diagnosis in 1987. For us to achieve true liberation and recognition we need to throw off this unjust stigma. We are not ill, just different"
A large number of people were invited by the demo organiser, a non-trans man by the name of Dennis Hambridge, and some of us were initially concerned by the rationale for the demo. In particular, we were worried that campaigning for the removal of Gender Identity Disorder as a medical diagnosis without proposing an alternative mechanism by which transsexual people would be able to access medical transition resources was premature and dangerous, especially in a climate where NHS primary care trusts need only a minimal excuse to deny funding for our hormonal and surgical procedures. We do not support the labelling of our gender identities as disordered, and realise that our relationship with the medical community is far from ideal, but do not wish to support a movement which may give the impression that we seek complete divorce from the medical community.
These concerns were put to the Facebook group by a number of trans activists. Rather than address them, Mr Hambridge entrenched his position, making claims that gender dysphoria was an artefact of society and the medical community, and that removal of any form of classification of gender dysphoria by the WHO was "non-negotiable".
In moves more reminiscent of the actions of transphobic radical feminists than supposed allies of trans people, Mr Hambridge started deleting some of the comments from those trans people who were concerned about our future access to hormones and surgery. Subsequently he banned a number of those trans people from the group, silencing them in that space.
To reiterate - Mr Hambridge, who is organising a demo which is allegedly supporting the rights of transsexual people is using his position as a group organiser to silence and shut out the voices of the very people he claims to support.
In light of Mr Hambridge's intransigence and refusal to listen to the voices of actual transsexual people, we are calling on all activists who support the concept of transsexual people having a say in our own medical care to boycott this demo. We further call on Mr Hambridge, who is not trans himself, to stop claiming to speak on our behalf when he is ignoring our protestations and silencing our voices, and to call off his demo.
Please spread this open letter widely.
Roz Kaveney has more information here and Aunty Sarah here.
London trans activists call for boycott of sham demo on October 17th
We are a group of trans activists who wish to make known our concerns about a demo, claiming to support the depathologisation of trans people, in London on 17th of October. The facebook group for the demo can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147494409183
The description of the event reads:
"Being transgendered is not a mental illness. We are simply part of the diversity of humanity. Gender Identity Disorder is therefore not a valid diagnosis. Homosexuality we removed as a mental health diagnosis diagnosis in 1987. For us to achieve true liberation and recognition we need to throw off this unjust stigma. We are not ill, just different"
A large number of people were invited by the demo organiser, a non-trans man by the name of Dennis Hambridge, and some of us were initially concerned by the rationale for the demo. In particular, we were worried that campaigning for the removal of Gender Identity Disorder as a medical diagnosis without proposing an alternative mechanism by which transsexual people would be able to access medical transition resources was premature and dangerous, especially in a climate where NHS primary care trusts need only a minimal excuse to deny funding for our hormonal and surgical procedures. We do not support the labelling of our gender identities as disordered, and realise that our relationship with the medical community is far from ideal, but do not wish to support a movement which may give the impression that we seek complete divorce from the medical community.
These concerns were put to the Facebook group by a number of trans activists. Rather than address them, Mr Hambridge entrenched his position, making claims that gender dysphoria was an artefact of society and the medical community, and that removal of any form of classification of gender dysphoria by the WHO was "non-negotiable".
In moves more reminiscent of the actions of transphobic radical feminists than supposed allies of trans people, Mr Hambridge started deleting some of the comments from those trans people who were concerned about our future access to hormones and surgery. Subsequently he banned a number of those trans people from the group, silencing them in that space.
To reiterate - Mr Hambridge, who is organising a demo which is allegedly supporting the rights of transsexual people is using his position as a group organiser to silence and shut out the voices of the very people he claims to support.
In light of Mr Hambridge's intransigence and refusal to listen to the voices of actual transsexual people, we are calling on all activists who support the concept of transsexual people having a say in our own medical care to boycott this demo. We further call on Mr Hambridge, who is not trans himself, to stop claiming to speak on our behalf when he is ignoring our protestations and silencing our voices, and to call off his demo.
Please spread this open letter widely.
Roz Kaveney has more information here and Aunty Sarah here.
Labels: demonstrations, NHS, transgenderism, transpersons, transphobia
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Police Attacking Public Again
Labels: demonstrations, police, YouTube
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Westboro Church protest met with laughter, sarcasm, mickey-taking and charity.
Over 100 students gathered on South University Avenue and in Hutchinson Courtyard Monday to demonstrate against six protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) advocating against the University of Chicago, the Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS), and the University of Chicago Law School’s employment of Barack Obama...
They were accompanied down the street by a group of students mocking the WBC’s message. The students held a sign reading "Figs Doom Nations" and planted themselves across the street from the WBC, drawing from a Biblical passage in which Jesus disparages a fig tree. "If you need scanty biblical evidence for anything, we’ve got it," said fourth-year Carmel Levy...
On the eastern side of the quad, students who had been waiting for the group waved signs mocking the WBC’s trademark "God Hates Fags" poster. The signs bore slogans such as "God <3’s internet porn," "God hates the new Facebook," and "God hates dial-up."...
Deputy Dean of Students for Student Affairs Martina Munsters came away with a positive impression of the counter-protest. "From what I’m hearing, it sounds like things went really well. There was no confrontation...[and] students seemed to be pretty upbeat," she said. "They even raised about $500 for charity, which I think is tremendous."
Over 100 students gathered on South University Avenue and in Hutchinson Courtyard Monday to demonstrate against six protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) advocating against the University of Chicago, the Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS), and the University of Chicago Law School’s employment of Barack Obama...
They were accompanied down the street by a group of students mocking the WBC’s message. The students held a sign reading "Figs Doom Nations" and planted themselves across the street from the WBC, drawing from a Biblical passage in which Jesus disparages a fig tree. "If you need scanty biblical evidence for anything, we’ve got it," said fourth-year Carmel Levy...
On the eastern side of the quad, students who had been waiting for the group waved signs mocking the WBC’s trademark "God Hates Fags" poster. The signs bore slogans such as "God <3’s internet porn," "God hates the new Facebook," and "God hates dial-up."...
Deputy Dean of Students for Student Affairs Martina Munsters came away with a positive impression of the counter-protest. "From what I’m hearing, it sounds like things went really well. There was no confrontation...[and] students seemed to be pretty upbeat," she said. "They even raised about $500 for charity, which I think is tremendous."
Labels: comedy, demonstrations, Fundamentalists- Christian, hate speech, United States
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Your Master's Voice
Ben Summerskill in the Guardian today:
The world of campaigning has changed massively over the last 20 years. Waving banners can be therapeutic, but it doesn't necessarily get you anywhere. But there are gay campaigners in 2009 who would love to be back marching in the streets, instead of having to negotiate with Whitehall officials about drafting tough bits of legislation.
Pffft! Silly poofs! When has demonstrating in the streets (or outside the V&A) achieved anything for anyone?
[Harvey] Milk himself was very determined. He was someone who was prepared to campaign hard but also to sit down and bash out compromises. He also had the ability to attract really quite dishy men - not unlike at least one gay politician I can think of today.
Reminds me of at least one student union president I knew who professed to find Tony Blair attractive.
The world of campaigning has changed massively over the last 20 years. Waving banners can be therapeutic, but it doesn't necessarily get you anywhere. But there are gay campaigners in 2009 who would love to be back marching in the streets, instead of having to negotiate with Whitehall officials about drafting tough bits of legislation.
Pffft! Silly poofs! When has demonstrating in the streets (or outside the V&A) achieved anything for anyone?
[Harvey] Milk himself was very determined. He was someone who was prepared to campaign hard but also to sit down and bash out compromises. He also had the ability to attract really quite dishy men - not unlike at least one gay politician I can think of today.
Reminds me of at least one student union president I knew who professed to find Tony Blair attractive.
Labels: demonstrations, gay, Government, lesbians, politics, Stonewall
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Daily Mail Lies (No Surprise There)
So, there was a big demo in London yesterday (amongst other cities) calling on Israel to not murder Palestinians. You may have heard about it. You may have been there, organisers said about 70 thousand people marched, police said 20 thousand, so that tends to average out at about 40 to 50 thousand. And it was cocking freezing in London yesterday, we got snowed on for crikey's sake. On to what I want to say about that in a minute. Newspaper coverage is mixed. Going by websites The News of the World seems to have ignored it, pretending it didn't happen. The Times has a tiny news piece down the bottom of it's UK news, they concentrate on the fighting but mention it was a mostly peaceful protest, though they don't give any figures to show their readers how it was less than 1% of the march that got punchy. The Telegraph does much the same but quotes the head of Scotland Yard who is accepting that the trouble was caused by a tiny minority. The Indy is more sympathetic and has more of an overview of the entire day, about the only outlet to acknowledge that the violence only started after most protesters had finished and left.
The award for the most biased report that has the least to do with reality must be from the Daily Mail though. Protesters clash with police as 100,000 strong London Gaza demo descends into violence. No mention of the fact that most of the demonstration and demonstrators were peaceful, instead it's straight-up trying to suggest that 100,000 people tore apart Kensington. Firstly, where did the Mail get 100,000 people from? Stop the War, who tend to massively overestimate numbers (it may be a Socialist thing) said 70,000 people, the police (who tend to do the opposite) said 20,000 and the Beeb reckon it's 50,000, so the Daily Mail made their own number up.
(UPDATE: 70,000 is what I thought StW were saying at the end of the demo yesterday. Septicisle, who was out later than me, says StW were saying 100,000 but StW's website is currently suspended. So that solves the problem of where the Daily Mail got the 100,000 figure from. Still, it's rather odd that they have chosen to accept StW's figure rather than going with the Police estimate. I suppose this is so as to make the following seem exciting enough.)
Violent clashes occurred between police and around 20,000 protesters outside the Israeli Embassy in London... The protesters - mainly young men - knocked down barriers threw missiles including eggs, red paint, sticks and shoes as 300 officers in full riot gear tried to maintain the peace.
Now, I'm no expert, and I know that police are trained for riot control, but I don't think these numbers can be right. Indeed, they seem suspiciously close to The Battle of Thermopylae which makes me wonder if someone at the Daily Mail watched 300 before filing their report. Training, schmaining, if 20,000 people wanted in to the Israeli embassy then the only way 300 police can stop them is if they each have their own personal tank and there's no way the supposed 'liberal, left-wing anti-Israeli media' could hush that up.
There were reports that some protesters had tried to set fire to police vans.
The violence, which broke out in front of the Israeli Embassy, appeared to be led by a hard-core of masked and hooded youths.
'There were reports'... 'appeared to be led'... The weasel words that signify you are about to be served a load of shit from someone who wasn't there, hence the fact this is attributed to 'Daily Mail Reporter'. This suggests it might actually be a report from a wire service rewritten by a Mail editor.
As it was, the demo that people who actually went on it attended was cold. Very cold. Have I emphasised how cold it was yesterday? Stop the War did no-one any favours by insisting that everyone stand around in the corner of Hyde Park for a few hours listening to speaker after speaker talking about Gaza as though that wasn't what we had all turned up for. When I got to the other end and found more of the same I decided I'd had enough and headed for home. I know that these things tends to have lots of speaking but there's a difference between a mild October day and January. Maybe the youth were trying to keep warm while being patronised by Juliet Stevenson, the police misread the situation and baton-charged them and the Mail reported it as 'feral youth attack police'?
Once we actually started marching things went fairly smoothly at first. I had my iPod on and can report that Asian Dub Foundation's Punkara is a great album to march to. We made good time along Bayswater Road although we were stopped for about ten or fifteen minutes about halfway along the street. I'm not clear exactly what the problem was but the stewarding was fairly week as I saw any number of people getting stuck the wrong side of bollards and traffic barriers because the stewards for that section were two old guys with a bit of white string. There was no danger to anyone at this time, it was all good-natured.
We turned down Kensington Church Street and it was as we approached the bottom of that road where it turned into Kensington High Street that things ground to a halt. I'm not sure what was going on, the roads were all closed off for the demo all the way so I'm not sure what was slowing us down but something was. The police around here looked a lot more edgy (though maybe that was me projecting) and there were several noticeable police photographers doing their thing so maybe it was the police trying to slow things down so they could look for people they thought might be trouble-makers, I have no idea. It would take a couple of minutes to walk from Kensington Church Street to the corner of Kensington Gardens normally, it took us over thirty minutes and I was not too far from the front of the demo.
The demo I attended was very much a family affair, I got banged in the legs by buggies several times, though that's hardly unnatural in British streets these days. There were a large number of teens and young adults wearing masks, which of course makes it easier to demonise them when they are pictured in battle with mounted police. The thing I come away with though is that this all goes to show the failure of the British education system. I'm not sure if I saw any home-made banner that was spelt correctly...
The award for the most biased report that has the least to do with reality must be from the Daily Mail though. Protesters clash with police as 100,000 strong London Gaza demo descends into violence. No mention of the fact that most of the demonstration and demonstrators were peaceful, instead it's straight-up trying to suggest that 100,000 people tore apart Kensington. Firstly, where did the Mail get 100,000 people from? Stop the War, who tend to massively overestimate numbers (it may be a Socialist thing) said 70,000 people, the police (who tend to do the opposite) said 20,000 and the Beeb reckon it's 50,000, so the Daily Mail made their own number up.
(UPDATE: 70,000 is what I thought StW were saying at the end of the demo yesterday. Septicisle, who was out later than me, says StW were saying 100,000 but StW's website is currently suspended. So that solves the problem of where the Daily Mail got the 100,000 figure from. Still, it's rather odd that they have chosen to accept StW's figure rather than going with the Police estimate. I suppose this is so as to make the following seem exciting enough.)
Violent clashes occurred between police and around 20,000 protesters outside the Israeli Embassy in London... The protesters - mainly young men - knocked down barriers threw missiles including eggs, red paint, sticks and shoes as 300 officers in full riot gear tried to maintain the peace.
Now, I'm no expert, and I know that police are trained for riot control, but I don't think these numbers can be right. Indeed, they seem suspiciously close to The Battle of Thermopylae which makes me wonder if someone at the Daily Mail watched 300 before filing their report. Training, schmaining, if 20,000 people wanted in to the Israeli embassy then the only way 300 police can stop them is if they each have their own personal tank and there's no way the supposed 'liberal, left-wing anti-Israeli media' could hush that up.
There were reports that some protesters had tried to set fire to police vans.
The violence, which broke out in front of the Israeli Embassy, appeared to be led by a hard-core of masked and hooded youths.
'There were reports'... 'appeared to be led'... The weasel words that signify you are about to be served a load of shit from someone who wasn't there, hence the fact this is attributed to 'Daily Mail Reporter'. This suggests it might actually be a report from a wire service rewritten by a Mail editor.
As it was, the demo that people who actually went on it attended was cold. Very cold. Have I emphasised how cold it was yesterday? Stop the War did no-one any favours by insisting that everyone stand around in the corner of Hyde Park for a few hours listening to speaker after speaker talking about Gaza as though that wasn't what we had all turned up for. When I got to the other end and found more of the same I decided I'd had enough and headed for home. I know that these things tends to have lots of speaking but there's a difference between a mild October day and January. Maybe the youth were trying to keep warm while being patronised by Juliet Stevenson, the police misread the situation and baton-charged them and the Mail reported it as 'feral youth attack police'?
Once we actually started marching things went fairly smoothly at first. I had my iPod on and can report that Asian Dub Foundation's Punkara is a great album to march to. We made good time along Bayswater Road although we were stopped for about ten or fifteen minutes about halfway along the street. I'm not clear exactly what the problem was but the stewarding was fairly week as I saw any number of people getting stuck the wrong side of bollards and traffic barriers because the stewards for that section were two old guys with a bit of white string. There was no danger to anyone at this time, it was all good-natured.
We turned down Kensington Church Street and it was as we approached the bottom of that road where it turned into Kensington High Street that things ground to a halt. I'm not sure what was going on, the roads were all closed off for the demo all the way so I'm not sure what was slowing us down but something was. The police around here looked a lot more edgy (though maybe that was me projecting) and there were several noticeable police photographers doing their thing so maybe it was the police trying to slow things down so they could look for people they thought might be trouble-makers, I have no idea. It would take a couple of minutes to walk from Kensington Church Street to the corner of Kensington Gardens normally, it took us over thirty minutes and I was not too far from the front of the demo.
The demo I attended was very much a family affair, I got banged in the legs by buggies several times, though that's hardly unnatural in British streets these days. There were a large number of teens and young adults wearing masks, which of course makes it easier to demonise them when they are pictured in battle with mounted police. The thing I come away with though is that this all goes to show the failure of the British education system. I'm not sure if I saw any home-made banner that was spelt correctly...
Labels: Daily Mail, demonstrations, Israel, London, newspapers, Palestine
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Stop the Slaughter in Palestine Demo- Dancers
Stop the Slaughter in Palestine Demo
Stop the Slaughter in Palestine Demo
Friday, November 07, 2008
Stonewall Demo at Victoria and Albert Museum
Stonewall Demo at Victoria and Albert Museum
Stonewall, despite naming itself after an event in which trannies took part, has never made any bones about being an organisation that does not represent transsexual people. However, for it's 2008 awards it decided to accept a nomination for best journalist for Julie Bindel, a writer with a history of transphobic opinions and writing.
So a group of about 150 pissed-off transsexual people and their allies held a fun and trouble-free protest outside of the Stonewall Awards at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the evening of the 6th of November 2008 to remind them of what they seemed keen to forget or ignore.
Stonewall should never allow itself to be an organisation that champions bigotry in any form. What is especially short-sighted is that they are trying to see transpeople as just that, ignoring that they can also be lesbians, gays or bisexuals. A nomination for Julie Bindel is a nomination that is also for hate against gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
She didn't win in the end :-)
So a group of about 150 pissed-off transsexual people and their allies held a fun and trouble-free protest outside of the Stonewall Awards at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the evening of the 6th of November 2008 to remind them of what they seemed keen to forget or ignore.
Stonewall should never allow itself to be an organisation that champions bigotry in any form. What is especially short-sighted is that they are trying to see transpeople as just that, ignoring that they can also be lesbians, gays or bisexuals. A nomination for Julie Bindel is a nomination that is also for hate against gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
She didn't win in the end :-)
Labels: demonstrations, Flickr, Julie Bindel, Stonewall, transgenderism, transphobia
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
So, if you're not busy tomorrow evening and in or near London, why not come and demonstrate with us outside the Victoria and Albert Museum? Stonewall are having their awards ceremony and some of us are going to demonstrating at their total lack of trans-awareness. The flashpoint for this was the nomination of Julie Bindel as journalist of the year. Bindel has had a visible presence as a transphobic lesbian feminist for around four years now, a position she maintains to this day. However, Stonewall have decided that at they are not an organisation for trans-people they do not need to show any concern about validating people who are against the trans-community, conveniently overlooking the fact that they may have many gay, queer, lesbian , questioning or bisexual supporters who... also happen to be transpeople too. Stonewall have consistently claimed that the awards were decided and couldn't be altered but have also avoided answering the question of what would happen if they were faced with the prospect of giving an award to someone who was on record as being racist or sexist?
There is a Facebook Group set up to discuss this where, if you look through the threads, you will see Bindel troll, claim she will sue people, ask for a discussion and then clam up when people start talking to her, all the fun of the fair. (Friend_of_tofu on LJ has more specific links here).
This is not, as Bindel and her supporters have tried to claim, homophobia. This is not even directly about her (though it's sad if a prominent lesbian journalist uses her position to promote hatespeech). Stonewall have, in emails and phone calls, suggested that Bindel was not going to win the award. The target of this demonstration is Stonewall themselves, for allowing this situation to come up like this. In the past Stonewall put out leaflets describing what transphobia is and what should be done to stop it. And while they may believe that they have nothing to do with the transcommunity, it was that community that helped start the campaign for gay equality that is still not over today, that makes up a proportion of their numbers today and that by ignoring that community they only diminish themselves and set their cause back.
Oh yeah, and we'll probably go to a pub afterwards too!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Outside the Victoria & Albert Museum
Street: Cromwell Road SW7 2RL.
Nearest Tube: South Kensington.
There is a Facebook Group set up to discuss this where, if you look through the threads, you will see Bindel troll, claim she will sue people, ask for a discussion and then clam up when people start talking to her, all the fun of the fair. (Friend_of_tofu on LJ has more specific links here).
This is not, as Bindel and her supporters have tried to claim, homophobia. This is not even directly about her (though it's sad if a prominent lesbian journalist uses her position to promote hatespeech). Stonewall have, in emails and phone calls, suggested that Bindel was not going to win the award. The target of this demonstration is Stonewall themselves, for allowing this situation to come up like this. In the past Stonewall put out leaflets describing what transphobia is and what should be done to stop it. And while they may believe that they have nothing to do with the transcommunity, it was that community that helped start the campaign for gay equality that is still not over today, that makes up a proportion of their numbers today and that by ignoring that community they only diminish themselves and set their cause back.
Oh yeah, and we'll probably go to a pub afterwards too!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Outside the Victoria & Albert Museum
Street: Cromwell Road SW7 2RL.
Nearest Tube: South Kensington.
Labels: demonstrations, Julie Bindel, Stonewall, transgenderism, transphobia
Monday, November 03, 2008
Demonstrating for Children
OK, you're young, glamorous and filled with rage at the injustices at the world. When you find a demonstration to go to, what you DO NOT DO is invite the person that caused the demonstration to happen because that would be an incredibly stupid thing which would devalue the whole point of the demonstration. It would also help not to get angry and self-defensive when you are criticised and instead try and understand other people's anger at your incredibly boneheaded move.
So I'd just like to welcome the Queer Youth Network to leftist politics. They are having their own demonstration at the same place as the older people, with Julie Bindel as 'their' extra special guest. Does that make them the Judean People's Front or the People's Front of Judea?
So I'd just like to welcome the Queer Youth Network to leftist politics. They are having their own demonstration at the same place as the older people, with Julie Bindel as 'their' extra special guest. Does that make them the Judean People's Front or the People's Front of Judea?
Labels: demonstrations, Julie Bindel, stupidity, transphobia
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Gah, stuff to do, stuff to do, thank Crickey I'm on leave this week as I'm just so tired right now.
Anyway, just time to dump a few links in your laps for your edufictation...
Iraqi interpreters and other key support staff who have risked their lives to work for Britain are to be allowed to settle in the United Kingdom.
And done just in time to avoid the meeting that was being organised in one of the rooms in the Palace of Westminster about this. Bollocks to it being 'a Times campaign', everyone played their part.
Meanwhile, the Home Secretary is urged to respond to allegations that failed asylum seekers have the shit kicked out of them as they are deported. The Indy had a big report on this yesterday, shocking if true but not surprising.
This ban will not stop us. There's going to be a Stop the War demo on Monday, but the police have decided it's illegal and dusted down legislation centuries old to justify their reasoning (which is interesting because although Gordon Brown promised to repeal SOCPA when he finally took to the thrown I believe it's still in force right now). More info here.
And finally, for some 'light relief', Celebrity racist Danielle Lloyd says she "felt like a man" after being forced to venture out in public with hairy armpits as part of a TV documentary. More TV fakery as it was prosthetic underarm hair, she wasn't even asked to just not shave for a while.
Anyway, just time to dump a few links in your laps for your edufictation...
Iraqi interpreters and other key support staff who have risked their lives to work for Britain are to be allowed to settle in the United Kingdom.
And done just in time to avoid the meeting that was being organised in one of the rooms in the Palace of Westminster about this. Bollocks to it being 'a Times campaign', everyone played their part.
Meanwhile, the Home Secretary is urged to respond to allegations that failed asylum seekers have the shit kicked out of them as they are deported. The Indy had a big report on this yesterday, shocking if true but not surprising.
This ban will not stop us. There's going to be a Stop the War demo on Monday, but the police have decided it's illegal and dusted down legislation centuries old to justify their reasoning (which is interesting because although Gordon Brown promised to repeal SOCPA when he finally took to the thrown I believe it's still in force right now). More info here.
And finally, for some 'light relief', Celebrity racist Danielle Lloyd says she "felt like a man" after being forced to venture out in public with hairy armpits as part of a TV documentary. More TV fakery as it was prosthetic underarm hair, she wasn't even asked to just not shave for a while.
Labels: beauty, Daily Mail, demonstrations, Gordon Brown, immigration, Iraq, Parliament, The War Against Terror, United Kingdom, women
