Anti-solidarity

I went to a rally in support of the inmates of detention centres around this country yesterday. By the time I left it, I was distinctly disillusioned. The people present seemed a comfortable minority. Comfortable in themselves, because they were there, doing the right thing. Comfortable for Howard who can easily dismiss such people as the 'loony' Left. And comfortable because they were in the minority, perhaps. Admittedly my mindframe was a little negative. But the speakers were uninspiring, by and large even inarticulate, and preoccupied with their own unrelated causes to the detriment of the cause of the day. Saw some old faces there: Phil from the ISO MCing the demonstration, with his usual hip-swaying strident political delivery, and sideways glances at the bimbo running the Refugee Rights Action Network. The bimbo herself, who whilst presumably no lightweight intellectually seems more interested in organising parties than getting anything meaningful done. Spent some time consciously avoiding the ISO people many of whom I know from my earlier flirtations with Marxism. Saw Alex Whisson wearing a red beret and a red scarf and looking like a prat. If he gets his picture on the news it'll probably swing another ten votes Howard's way. In any case, I thought the whole demonstration was crap. I hope something useful does eventually get done for all the unfairly incarcerated people in this country.

I couldn't be bothered going on the march, so I went and browsed a few shops instead. J.G. Ballard's Complete Short Stories and Egan's new book Schild's Ladder have been released, I will have to buy and read them both.

Nothing has to happen somewhere.
Philip Larkin

Larkin said that of Coventry, but you might as well say the same of Perth. Not true, but quite cutting all the same.