World Against War – I missed it

København: World Against War – Kalender – Modkraft.dk

Der var demonstration i dag mod krig – men jeg lå med tømmermænd. Det er først lige nu at det går op for mig at det var i dag. Da jeg stod op (omkring kl. 13 vil jeg tro) kunne jeg godt høre nogle svage råb i retning af Modstand mod…. Men hvad det var for eller imod kunne mit druktyngede hoved ikke lige stykke sammen på det tidspunkt.

Ellers er ferien startet for mit vedkommende – men jeg har nu nok at tage mig til, så jeg frygter ikke at jeg kommer til at kede mig. Desuden lurer der måske en hurtig tur til Berlin i næste weekend og det kan man jo kun se frem til!

Demonstration mod kvindeundertrykkelse!

Jeg er næsten lige kommet hjem fra Hellerup, hvor jeg var til demonstration foran den Saudi Arabiske ambassade.

Demonstrationen var arrangeret af Enhedslisten i Gladsaxe m.fl. og rettede en skarp kritik af kvindeundertrykkelsen i Saudi Arabien, der for nyligt er blevet tydeligt udstillet, da en 19 årig kvinde blev idømt slag og fængselsstraf efter hun var blevet voldtaget af 7 mænd. Hun blev altså straffet for at blive voldtaget!

Blandt talerne var Asmaa Abdol-Hamid (wikipedia) og Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen (wikipedia) der bl.a. efterlyste de folk som kalder sig feminister og taler om menneskerettigheder og mod kvindeundertrykkelse så længe det er ‘gratis’, men som lukker munden (eller går meget stille med deres protest) når det er en af ‘vennerne’ der begår overgrebene – i dette tilfælde et diktatur som tilfældigvis også er en af de største olie eksportører og en af USA’s nærmeste allierede i mellemøsten.

Update…

Hvad har jeg gået og lavet på det sidste? Tjah, skrevet på min blog har jeg jo ikke… men lad os se:

Torsdag d. 8. marts var jeg inde og se Per Vers (og andre) spille på Rust til en Unicef støttekoncert.
Fredag d. 9. var jeg til kollegiefest, lørdag var jeg til 24 års fødselsdag. Mandag eftermiddag følte jeg mig ikke helt på toppen og kunne efterhånde udelukket at det var tømmermænd der ville forsvinde naturligt, så jeg blev hjemme fra forelæsning tirsdag med ondt i halsen (og måske lidt feber?). Endelig var jeg inde og se Blood Diamond onsdag.

I dag har jeg været til demonstration mod krigen i Irak, med for-demonstration fra Blågårds Plads… Selve demonstrationen blev bl.a. dækket af Politiken her.
Nu skal jeg af sted til kollegiefest / bar om lidt (eller, jeg skal ud og have noget junkfood før festen)… og sådan kan man jo hurtigt bruge 1½ uge…

No particular place to go…

This weekend was an event full one here in Copenhagen. Sunday afternoon a “reclaim the streets” party/demonstration in support of Ungdomshuset (Wikipedia link) ended in 263 arrests, and the media has been full of pictures of flying paving stones and dumpsters set on fire in the streets of Nørrebro.
The police of course claims that the demonstraters could have continued if they had played by the rules. The demonstraters on the other hand claim that the confrontation started by the police driving(!) their vans into the crowd.
At the end of the day, out of the 263 arrests only five people remained in custody.
My guess is that the police was just looking to pick a fight… The day before, Saturday, there was another big peace full demonstration, which I took part in, for Ungdomshuset with about 3,000 demonstrators and it was made clear again and again that all the happenings for Ungdomshuset this weekend (there was also a concert with some rather big names Friday) were to be peace full. The phrase “we choose when and where to fight” came up a couple of times and it was made clear that no one were looking for trouble this weekend…
Besides that, I personally had a great weekend, with some partying and moderate drinking Friday and Saturday night, and a relaxed bike ride with David Sunday afternoon out to Langelinie and up the coast with no particular place to go. We actually just managed to see the big police lineup at Droning Louises Bro before we left the city center.

I just got home from a demonstration for a cease-fire in Lebanon and an end to occupation. I would have brought a camera, but forgot, so for now, no pictures from the event.

There were a number of speakers from a broad spectrum of parties and organizations.

As a ‘surprise treat’ David Rovics did one and a half number, before one of his guitar strings broke. I have, to my regret, never seen him live before today, but wanted to go a few of the times he has been playing in Denmark / Copenhagen. So it was kind of cool seeing him, although just for a short time.

Amazing Grace

Yesterday was fourth of July, the American Independence Day. Not really a holiday I have ever celebrated in the past, but yesterday I attended two (different) celebrations of the day.

The first was a political manifestation. I joined over 300 others outside the Ministry of Defence, located at Holmens Kanal. There we put on orange jumpsuits, black hoods and chains around feet and hands. Then we went in one long line – three by three – to the American Embassy in complete silence (except for the rattling of the chains). Upon arrival we song the Amazing Grace, and then went our separate ways. Even though there were a whole bunch of reporters with cameras, I have only been able to find very shallow covering of the event – if I do manage to find more pictures or general news items about it, I will link it here later. For now, take a quick look here for a single picture.

http://www.localeyes.dk/article3262.html

So, with the political manifestation of the day taken care of I moved on to Amager for a more traditional celebration. We were just about 14 people, grilling (or do you call it barbecuing in the states?), drinking beer and having a good time.

I got home late’ish, slept until noon and now I should be just about ready to start my day… (being on holidays sure is sweet!)