Selfish children take to the streets and get in my fucking way AGAIN

For those of you who read this blog from time to time, you may remember my angry ramblings regarding the puerile and ill-directed protest that Brighton endured last May courtesy of the Smash EDO organisation.

Well they were kind enough to do it again yesterday, and once more they got in my fucking way and generally annoyed me.

The protest was directed as before at the EDO weapons factory in Moulsecoomb, and to the protesters' credit this time they actually managed to find it. Someone must have bought them a map or something, as last time it seemed they couldn't be bothered to walk the three miles up the road from central Brighton to where the factory is actually located.

This time they managed to protest near and around the factory, but unfortunately they got bored after a while and decided to fuck off the rest of the city by coming into the centre. Despite taking a different route home, I still had to take several diversions in order to avoid the places where the police were trying to hold them back. I was also unlucky enough to catch sight of a few of them, wearing black, faces covered and hoods up, looking not at all like the group of peaceful protesters they claim to be. Fortunately it seems that there wasn't as much wanton destruction as last time, but their presence was still rather intimidating for the city's residents, and as always seemed rather pointless.

Why did they need to come into town? No one in town CARED about their protest, all they did was fuck us off AGAIN. It stops even being about the protest after a while, and they instead just seem to enjoy trying to outwit the police and get to places the police don't want them to get to. It's childish and pathetic, and it costs the taxpayers a ridiculous amount of money in policing.

I was also annoyed to learn that EDO denies that it supplies weapons to Israel anyway. According to a tribunal ruling last November, there is nothing in their export licences that proves they do so, and so the tribunal turned down Smash EDO's request to publish them (they're normally confidential, apparently). Of course, Smash EDO retorted "that doesn't prove that they don't, it just says there isn't evidence they do".

Well I'm sorry but I object to that on two counts. Firstly, we live in a country where our legal system is predicated on a party being innocent until proven guilty. Secondly, as a person with a scientific mind, I base my opinions on the evidence that is presented to me, not on the say so of a bunch of idiots in face masks. If I see evidence that EDO sells weapons components to Israel, or if EDO confirms that it does, then fine I'll believe it, but not until then.

Furthermore, even if they do sell components directly or indirectly to Israel, I don't actually give a fuck anyway. People talk about the murder of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army in illegal military action - but as I said before, if that's your beef then go and protest outside the Israeli embassy. Stopping a small piece of equipment being made in Brighton is not going to matter one jot to what happens in Palestine, and it is insulting to the Palestinian cause if that's where you decide to focus your efforts. If you care that much, go to Gaza and help the injured. Stand in front of an Israeli tank. Lobby the British government and the UN to condemn their military action and impose sanctions. No? Too much effort? Prefer to piss off the people of Brighton instead? Well fuck you then.

While we're on the subject, I may as well make my position on Israel/Palestine clear. I am not pro-Israel, as some people might infer from the above. My position is that both sides are as bad as each other, and so I just don't care what they do to each other any more. I do not take this view lightly, or without having taken them time inform myself on the subject beforehand, I might add.

The problem I have with their conflict is that neither side is prepared to compromise. They are much happier to carry on killing each other, so why should I care about it? The broad strokes of a peace deal between Israel and Palestine have been known for years: a two-state solution; shared custody of Jerusalem; Israel to stop expanding into Palestinian territory, and to give back large portions of the land they annexed in the 60s; limited right of return for Palestinian refugees to land within Israel; recognition of Israel's right to exist. There have been times when they have been close(ish) to peace in the past, but every time one side or the other or both fucks it up, because ultimately they don't want peace. They aren't prepared to share. It's ridiculously childish considering what's at stake. And yes the land is 'holy' in various ways to them, but you can still fucking share it.

Yes Israel kills far more Palestinians than Palestinians kill Israelis because they have bigger guns, but the Palestinians aren't innocent either. If they were, they wouldn't elect Hamas who want to see Israel wiped from the map to represent them. They wouldn't tolerate militants firing rockets at Israeli houses. Being the weaker person in a fight doesn't necessarily exonerate you of all blame.

And yes, I fully acknowledge that perhaps it would have been better if the world's superpowers hadn't plonked Israel there in the first place, but it's there now. You have to deal with the situation as it stands.

So I agree that it is all a big fucking mess, but it needn't be if both sides wanted to compromise. They won't, so fuck them.

Anyway, I have digressed a little from my original topic. The protest was annoying, achieved nothing, and cost me money. I don't agree with their cause, but that's not the major problem I have with Smash EDO - it's their methods I object to. Their protests end up directed more at the police than anything else, they disrupt the lives of people who really don't care, they directly or indirectly cause violence and intimidation, and they generally piss me off.