Doug PollardHow to ruin a city
Robert Doyles Dreaming
Small protest: not much to see. Not quite sure what it’s about. All very ho hum.
Weekend coming up. Rain expected. People will probably start getting bored and drift away soon.
If they don’t – well, might provide some minor titillation for Betty Battenberg amidst the endless round of manufactured controversies and meaningless platitudes.
She could come down to City Square, ask them if they would like to present a petition or something?
What’s it for, the papers owned by the oligarchs and corporations asked? Why are they doing this? They don’t seem to know.
Well duh. Pretty simple, really: we had this thing called a GFC, caused by banks and business. Lots of people lost their jobs, their homes, their super.
Not so bad here as in Europe and in the US, but hey, it’s a globalised world and still had some effect.
Big losses = big protests. Think Greece. Small losses = small protests. Like here.
To sum up, no big deal. A few local businesses in a bit of strife, but nothing a little creative thinking couldn’t fix.
Maybe offer them an alternate site. Maybe consider a permanent site – a perpetual people’s parliament. A tourist attraction, like Speaker’s Corner in London. Could throw up some good ideas, could even perform that magic trick and get people – especially young people – interested in politics again.
So what happens.
Riot police.
Institutionalised thuggery.
The mayor on his balcony, smugly looking down as the peasants are crushed at his feet.
So much for the liveable city.
So much for the creative city.
So much for the compassionate city.
And Ted Ballieu says . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . nothing.
