Monday Moan 12

Special Irony Edition

Putin their place by Russian realities

The Pussy Riot trial has rekindled memories of how Russia was in the days of Communism, where opposition to the State was crushed whenever it appeared as a means of keeping the population in its place.

Among the many ironies of the trial is that in Russia, for so long a place where religion was permitted only under sufferance by the State, offending Orthodox believers has been one of the crimes used to justify the conviction of these three young women. The trial judge spoke of the offence caused to those believers through wearing bright coloured clothes and by making sharp aggressive movements inside a church.  The full weight of the law had to be used to try to avoid such actions being repeated.

So nothing to do with their opposition to Vladimir Putin then.

But before we all get too indignant about Putin and his suppression of free speech, it is worth considering what kind of reaction there might have been in the UK press and from the UK government had the peace of Westminster Abbey been shattered by a similar stunt. Or is response to some of the other things the same group have done. 

The trouble is that we now have an unholy alliance between the western media and the rent-a-mob of global activists who will jump on any passing bandwagon.  I predict a wearisome string of stories and ‘protests’ and someone will get rich by selling lots of brightly-coloured balaclavas.

Life in black and white

I sometimes wish I could see things in black or white only, as so many others appear to do.  You know - for Pussy Riots and against Putin; for Julian Assange and against the USA;  for the anti-capitalists outside St Pauls and against whoever or whatever it was that they were against.  It’s just so difficult being able to see more than one point of view, isn’t it? 

Is there a central casting agency that can be asked to provide a motley crew of people to demonstrate for or against anything at a moment’s notice?  I assume so.  How else do we explain the magical (monotonous) appearance of indignant crowds of people prepared to wave banners and shout denunciations outside any given venue so that the waiting news crews have somebody to film?  This agency is really rather special though, since it can produce people of any nationality or ‘conviction’, as well as a celeb or two of the appropriate level as the situation demands.  I suppose with all the unemployment around, and with the understandable desire to take the five minutes of fame you are being offered, people are quite prepared to strike a pose for or against anything, no matter how ridiculous the notion they put forward. 

Julian Assange

Talking of five minutes of fame and ridiculous notions brings me back to Julian Assange – see Moan 4 for previous thoughts.

So many things to ponder in his current situation.  Here we have an Australian being held by the British on behalf of the Swedish Government which wants Assange to stand trial for the alleged rape of two Swedish women.  It’s not the most obvious next development in the world for Ecuador to choose to enter into this matter by offering Assange political asylum.

Oh, wait a minute.  This is not about the alleged rape of Swedish women though, it’s actually about that empire of evil the USA, according to Assange and his apologists.  Now we understand that the villain is the USA and not poor Mr Assange we can understand the eagerness of left-leaning Ecuador to take his side. 

According to Assange, in a surreal speech he gave to the world’s press from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in London, this is all about our freedom to stand up against the USA and the suppression of free speech (translation – leaking of secret documents whenever he, Assange, feels it is justified).  He said “As WikiLeaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and health of all our societies. I ask President Obama to do the right thing. The US must renounce its witch-hunt against WikiLeaks.”

No mention of Sweden or rape.  No mention of the irony of calling for freedom of expression whilst under the protection of an Ecuadorean government that itself denies such freedoms to journalists in its own country. 

Postcard from a long holiday

According to a new report from a group of five Tory MPs who we are told are ‘rising stars’ within the party, British workers are idlers. Apparently, we work the lowest hours and our productivity is poor.

The five intellectual giants who put their names to this attack are Kwarsi Kwarteng, Pritti Patel, Dominic Raab, Chris Skidmore and Elizabeth Truss.

It seems that most of them were unavailable for comment when journalists tried to ask about the report.  Probably a lack of mobile phone signals wherever they are currently enjoying their long summer holiday from 17 July to 3 September.  If the journalists are quick they might catch them when they return, before they take another well-earned break during the Conference season from 18 September to 15 October.

It’s good to know that they are hard at work while the rest of us are idling.