Saturday, August 20, 2005
playing politics with the dead
Menezes' family calls for justice. I can understand the anger of Jean Charles de Menezes' cousin Alessandro Pereira - indeed I agree with much of what he has said over the last few days. However there is something deeply unedifying about those who have been busy jostling to position themselves as guardians of the Menezes family interests.
On one side of Mr Periera, sat Asad Rehman (George Galloway's political assistant -which for this individual is enough said about unedifying spectacles) and on his other side sat Yasmin Khan, member of an activist group called Corporate Pirates. A group that admittedly i'd never heard of before tonight, but judging by these pictures they look like every other bunch of self satisfied and self righteous bourgeous students that make up these "zany" and "wacky" protest groups and who manage to trivilise important issues and look like twats all at once.
Furthermore, the website of The Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign is registered to an Alistair Alexander. I don't know if it is still the case but this Guardian article from 2003 identifies him as a member of Stop the War Coalition and he was listed on the STWC website as available for comment on the Blix report published earlier that year and appears to be involved with press relations for the STWC. Perhaps someone more knowledgable on the matter can shed some light on this.
Yes to justice for Jean Charles de Menezes. But for those who have attached themselves to the issue and who seek to drag an innocent mans body from the grave in an attempt to exploit it's political capital? Shame on you.
On one side of Mr Periera, sat Asad Rehman (George Galloway's political assistant -which for this individual is enough said about unedifying spectacles) and on his other side sat Yasmin Khan, member of an activist group called Corporate Pirates. A group that admittedly i'd never heard of before tonight, but judging by these pictures they look like every other bunch of self satisfied and self righteous bourgeous students that make up these "zany" and "wacky" protest groups and who manage to trivilise important issues and look like twats all at once.
Furthermore, the website of The Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign is registered to an Alistair Alexander. I don't know if it is still the case but this Guardian article from 2003 identifies him as a member of Stop the War Coalition and he was listed on the STWC website as available for comment on the Blix report published earlier that year and appears to be involved with press relations for the STWC. Perhaps someone more knowledgable on the matter can shed some light on this.
Yes to justice for Jean Charles de Menezes. But for those who have attached themselves to the issue and who seek to drag an innocent mans body from the grave in an attempt to exploit it's political capital? Shame on you.
