The Aftermath of Glastonbury and Live 8 - I Predict a Riot

It's hard to put into words how I felt watching Geldof lecturing the masses, in the washed out quagmire that was this years Glastonbury - John Lennon's famous 'everyone in the gallery can rattle their jewellery' came most readily to mind. No ordinary person can now even afford to attend Glasto anymore - £130 is WAY too much for your average citizen. And the constant assertions by the smug Eavis' clan as to how great the rain made everything could only be made by people for whom a few hundred pounds wasted is no problem. Adding insult to injury by having to watch these pampered t**ts banging on about poverty made the toes curl.

Then Live 8: I live locally to central London, so was able to go and have a look at what was actually happening in Hyde Park, not just rely on the media edited vision of proceedings. It was a rather sad affair really, reminding one of an elitist garden fete, with the richest guests afforded 'sectioned off' areas of the crowd. I expected thousands to be thronging the streets in the surrounding area, but apart from a few tourists, there was nobody. ALL of Hyde Park was fenced off - a public space where the public were not allowed in. There were obviously plenty of people inside the fence, but large swathes of the park were totally empty.
So why fence off the whole park? Everyone likes a party, but the political message was akin to: 'Inbetween our expensive foreign holidays, weekends away and gluttonous dinner parties, why not spare a thought for the poor africans - after all, we won't have to do anything'. Except buy the DVD, brought to you by EMI.


- the Globe and Mail article: 'They know nothing about Poverty'.

As I write, the real protesters have begun the real riot at the start of the G8 conference in Edinburgh - armed with staves and park bench wooden stakes. Now we'll find out who wants to align themselves and their comfortable media guilt to the infamous anti capitalist anarchists of Britian - the very people who have made this whole issue come to the fore. Watch the news on this - it's too new for any good links yet......I predict all out street fighting - and possible fatalities.

19:25pm
Update 1
yahoo link to burgeoning riot
and sad proof of the real beneficiaries