OK ... as promised, I've finally prepared, scaled and uploaded a few of the pictures I took at the demonstration last Saturday. I took a total of 220 photos, some of which are not very good but, even so, if I upload all the good ones, it will really attract the attention of the ISP bandwidth police. They don't set a limit, but if your bandwidth use gets really spiked, they'll put the ice on my account for a while. And I don't want that. And besides, it'll take you an age to download them.
So, here's 19 of them, insha Allah.
1. Victoria Embankment, 13.40 - The demo which took place just before the beginning of the war started at Parliament Square, and people had to start at Waterloo Bridge. This photo was taken at the Waterloo-Charing Cross footbridge (commonly called by its old name, Hungerford Bridge), which was closed the day of that demo. So, you can see that the demo is nothing like as well-attended as that.
2. Trafalgar Square - One of the many unions which turned out - this time the Camden branch of Unison, the public service union.
3. West of Trafalgar Square - The more typical of the banners on display: Stop the War, Socialist Workers and MAB, and the usual profusion (or perhaps confusion) of issues. They came from the north ...
4. Suffolk Peace - and from the east ...
5. Ifield Quakers - and from the south ... and I saw some people from Bath too.
6. In Piccadilly - Besides the Quakers, there were of course Muslims ...
7. In Hyde Park - and here are the saffron robes, drums and white girls in saris ... it must be the "Hare Krishna" people, probably from Soho
8. And, of course, communists - in this case, the sectarians of the Worker-Communist Party. Just so you know your enemy.
9. A really stupid poster - I just happened to pass this on the way and have been meaning to comment on this for a while. Transport for London have put out three stupid posters containing images of fictional black stars who never made it because they were hit by cars and killed when they were teenagers. Like every black boy wants to star in a violent action film or be a DJ, and every black girl wants to get her kit off and sing crappy songs. I've seen foreigners look at this poster and think it's a real film! You can see Transport for London's lame justifications for this campaign here; I'm surprised this racially stereotyped drivel can become part of an official road safety campaign in Livingstone's London.
10. More communists - this time from Turkey. Probably Kurdish.
11. Into the park - people throwing their posters down.
12. Crossing the field - reminds me of approaching the stage at Cropredy, the only music festival I ever went to. Same atmosphere, without all the warm beer.
13. Haifa Zangana - I think this was the only Iraqi speaker. At this point she was over-time, and the three people at the mic on the right are getting a bit restive about the situation. And who are this RAYA outfit?
14. The Rasta guy - Singing the peace & love song.
15. The WCPI again - At their table in the park
17. Salma Yaqoob - one of the current leading lights in Respect.
18. Also near the front - people came to promote many other causes; these men came to protest the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
19. And these people too - I didn't get shots of all their banners as the light wasn't that good by this point. This looks like typical HT sloganising, but in fact they were here to defend, not to promote. This could be the last event in which they can participate openly, because our idiot government intends to ban them.
Oh goodness!
I would hate to get caught up in all that madness. Nice pictures but scary stuff. About the only cause I could support with was the one regarding the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are some people who really need our help, and its so non-partisan. Onward Congolese Soldiers.
Sister bikhair,
I think we should be at the forefront of anti-nuclear protests, green-peace, anti-global warming, debt-relief and some other worthy ones. There should be at least one muslim on the steering committee of these groups. Inshallah, may be we can bring some sanity back into world affairs.
For me, these protests are very important because they have serious implications for maqasid shari'ah, and indeed our own personal maqasids, and the world at large.
The prophet (saw) was on his own amongst the pagan arabs of that time with no ability to organise a protest... yet he transformed their consciousness beyond words. In our time, at least we can get together and do something.
All of these so-called "enlightened" "advanced" idiots have wrecked the planet, literally.
We don't even feel it, maybe because a great part of us have been wrecked along..., our faculties are no longer due sensitive.
When Allah say, He is closer to us than our ownselves: what does that mean today? Zilch
The toys are closer, war noises, explosions, etc are closer, more manifest. Yet Allah is insisting that He is more Manifest, more Close. inni qareeb!
Basically, we need to start doing things, however little, to influence agendas in a positive manner. Inshallah, this will be iba'dah. I think these lobby groups and protests are a step in the right direction... if the voices are loud enough, it will crystallize into tangible results.
Subhanallah, some of these protesters don't even believe in any higher purpose, yet they feel the need to speak out against all the stupidity they see around...
Once on the train, I remember having a chat with a green-peace activists ... I couldn't believe his passion! And here we are complaining but doing nothing.
Indeed,you get the odd joint smoker amongst them....
Allah knows best.
Sorry anonymous.From a sentimental standpoint I could support of Congolese but everything else is just jahil.
brownwonder,
Read this:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/poisoning-the-unborn111
And this is a tip of the ice-berg.
We are material as well as soul. Each does have a capability to impress on the other.
Eat too much at night, and there goes fajr - regardless of your Iman.
So, I think raising awareness about these things are important, and not jahili.
Living on an ivory tower will not stop the smell of dung from wafting upwards. ;)
brownwonder,
Sorry this is the full report, it is a 59 pager. Take you time. it's worth the read.
http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/umbilicalcordreport.pdf
Just so you know, Anas Altikriti (MAB) is also Iraqi by birth, but brought up in Britain.
The sister you've labelled as Salma Yaqoob would appear in fact to be Fatima Mahmoud (FOSIS).