NOT PWOTESTING

Was tempted to wander down but also tempted to watch how rolling news would present on BBC. I am sure Charlie Brooker is preparing a summary now. Yeah, still jadded by protest really. I think UK Uncut are doing quite well. If they can keep on the same happy non-violent tip this mass arrest should eventually work in their favour.

The statistics speak for themselves. UK Uncut arrests for non violence: 138. Arrests outside: 10. Shows exactly what the priorities for Policing are. To be fair Paul Mason made this point on Newsnight.

I got defriended on facebuk (which I still don't know why I am on) by someone because I said I couldn't see the point of smashing stuff which was covered by insurance. Hilarious no? Insurance. A pretty simple concept. The guy was actually calling random smashing "economic damage". That is ridiculous no? I mean 9/11 was economic damage. People's insurance premiums went up and that was what- 15 guys? none of whom even wore masks or carried flags. Yes. Economic damage. Peoples insurance premiums went up. A bit. What fucking economic damage does random smashing do? Right next to fuck all.

And what the fuck was Theresa May going on about? Banning hooligans? Banning masks? The cops already have laws to cover this. Ridiculous woman.

The message from Saturday? If you do non-violent direct action you will be arrested, if you violently run round with masks smashing stuff, you will probably get away with it. Another reason I would go nowhere near black block. How many of them behind those masks are cops?

Amusing blog trying to distance Labour "movement" from UKUncut
Someone in the Labour party who still backs UKUncut
Brendan O'Neill's bullshit
Inspector Gadgets "We'll show you what happens when we don't kettle" perspective
Pwotest, but not on Saturday

Update: There has been a lot of talk about unclear alternatives on the march for the alternative, so I thought I would post this excellent video from Al Jazeera where Max Keiser wipes the floor with the experts he is up against who don't even refute anything he is saying.And what he is saying is let the banks and bad banking practices fail, nationalize them as utilities which lend at 2% and give all the non bankers a wage hike to stimulate the economy. No one needs to smash anything. Surely even the Tea party can get behind that no? If we need to campaign for anything, I think a good focus would be for the general public to understand the banking system in clear terms, and the king of the castle on that isssue is Max Keiser.

Another update: If you take it all a bit more seriously than Max, Inside Job is amazing. Online here.
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Munir Zamir

How I fell into the clutches of radical cleric Abu Hamza

...He then showed the teenagers a picture of radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza.

"Look who I ended up with," he said.

"We had a fantastic relationship. It was a match made in heaven – his anger, my lack of self-esteem.

"He wanted me to die on the battlefield."

But he said people often did not understand the meaning of Jihad, which has become associated with suicide bombers but refers to the struggle Muslims face to make themselves better people.

Mr Zamir said: "Jihad is getting to school on time, Jihad is helping your mother with the shopping, Jihad is being the best person you can be."

And he urged the teenagers to read books and talk to family members to find out more about the religion.

He said: "I did not go looking for the answers, they came looking for me."

A former British National Party member, who has turned his back on the group, also spoke to the youngsters at the conference at police headquarters in Ripley.

The event, the first of its kind, was organised by Derbyshire Constabulary's community engagement team which was set up in 2008 to prevent extremism...

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Hamza's slant on events

Jailed Cleric calls for Libyan revolution

What do you think? Sounds like he isn't calling for Islamic revolution either, but speaking as another Egyptian no?