A Word from the Mayor
Still in Singapore after the IOC's announcement of London as the site of the 2012 Olympics, London's Mayor Ken Livingstone delivered a strong and inspiring statement. I'm not quoting the whole thing, but editing it down for soundbites fails to do it justice, so here are some fairly hefty excerpts:
I want to say one thing specifically to the world today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.
That isn't an ideology, it isn't even a perverted faith--it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other. . . . [Londoners] will stand together in solidarity alongside those who have been injured and those who have been bereaved and that is why I'm proud to be the mayor of that city.
Instead of offering vague platitudes about not letting the terrorists affect their routines, Livingstone spoke directly to the terrorists to provide specifics for how Londoners will continue to react:
Finally, I wish to speak directly to those who came to London today to take life.
I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others--that is why you are so dangerous. But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society and I can show you why you will fail.
In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.
They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live. They don't want that and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.
The full transcript can be found here.
Livingstone has long been known in England as a leftist politician, but even Rush Limbaugh had to give him props for this speech. Limbaugh admitted that Livingstone "did say good things" and called it "a great statement." After playing his own excerpt (which included the last quote I highlighted), Rush said, "Very powerful, excellent."
posted by Doug @ 6:32 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
(sorry cross posted in London, though written for here)
Though it comes up tasting like vomit, I have to agree with Rush. "Very powerful, excellent." But it's funny, though Livingstone's speech uses many of the same phrases as the ad nauseums of Bush and Blair, it feels somehow more sincere, inspiring. Could it be that we know when Bush speaks this stuff, but doesn't mean it? (wink).
The London bombings (and this speech by Livingstone) have rekindled within me many smoldering angers – not at terrorism, though I find the acts barbaric and loathsome (and quite worrisome as a parent of a 15-year old daughter roaming about Europe as we speak), but at the exploitation of terrorism by our right wing governors. We've been reminded by many writers (since Karl Rove's indelicate comments in NYC) that strong majorities of both Republicans (72%) and Democrats (67%) supported our invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent overthrow of the Taliban.
But Bush and his bastard friends decided to use our confusion and anger (and prejudice and xenophobia) to launch their cold Civil War – Red v Blue, Conservative v Liberal, Corporate v Human. From the beginning, Iraq was as much (if not more) about proving the wrongness of liberal democracy as it was about oil or strategic advantage or (if you're naïve enough to buy the rhetoric) freedom and democracy.
Livingstone calls on us to defeat terrorism by getting on with our lives, reveling in our freedom, flaunting our fearlessness and letting our freak flags fly. Bush calls on us to defeat terrorism by duct-taping our windows, voting Republican and privatizing Social Security. Is it going too far to say, if we let Bush get away with it, the terrorists win?
As I was writing this post, I noticed in the back of my mind that Livingstone echoed the words and sentiments we've been hearing for years from Bush, but I didn't really explore that idea. Why does Livingstone come across as sincere when Bush, Blair, et al., don't? Since we're just reading the words, we can't even fall back on his delivery. And we can't blame it on political differences, either. Rush puts his imprimatur on Livingstone's speech, and rising poll numbers in this country show more and more people of various persuasions are doubting Bush.
We want to come together to combat terrorism, and we'll respond to the right inspiration, but we just haven't been receiving it from our leaders. I know I'm not the only one watching W's numbers this weekend. Unless they get a huge bump that lingers for more than a few days, I think it will prove the administration has lost its ability to get mileage out of even on its signature issue.
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