Anti lockdown protests yesterday.

[Tumbleweed101]

There is a lot being said on social media but not much in mainstream news which is interesting given how many people seem to have gone to the one in London at least. I understand there were some elsewhere in the country too.

Just curious if anyone took part
and what people think about the protests.

*The issue is drawing a comparison between Nazi Germany and the current situation. Yes?

You can make the comparison in words, like the Jewish lady did in the video.

Or you can make the comparison visually, by wearing a star.*

Sorry but Nazi Germany was nothing like now and that is what is so deeply offensive.

Yes I agree

I would never make the comparison myself, ever.

you imply that no Jewish person would ever make the comparison between nazi Germany and this situation by wearing a star, but there is a Jewish lady in the Sky video making that exact comparison. So clearly, some Jewish people feel it is an apt comparison

One Jewish person. That’s not enough to dismiss it as a non-issue. Particularly if there are others who are going on record that it most definitely is offensive.

As a non-Jewish person, I have a duty to call out anti-semitism among my fellow non-Jewish people. I reject the idea that it’s my place, as a non-Jewish person, to police the boundaries of anti-semitism when it comes to what Jewish people say and do

But at no point have you written that the people wearing the stars were likely to be Jewish, I mean there’s no way to possibly know that unless they go on public record. Your statement is contradicting itself.

I honestly don’t believe you’re anti-Semitic or even actually that bothered about the whole thing, which is fine, but refusal to recognise anti-semitism, racism, homophobia etc is part of the the problem isn’t it? Your stance relies on making an assumption that the people wearing these stars have the right by heritage to make that comparison publicly. You shouldn’t have to fill in the gaps to be able to make something acceptable if it actually is.

@Terracotta9

The issue is drawing a comparison between Nazi Germany and the current situation. Yes?

You can make the comparison in words, like the Jewish lady did in the video.

Or you can make the comparison visually, by wearing a star.

You all seem to be very confident that the people wearing yellow stars were definitely not Jewish. If they weren’t Jewish then they must be condemned and I will join you on that.

I, however, am not confident that they definitely weren’t Jewish. The lady in the video makes it clear that not all Jewish people share the same perspective on the comparison. And if the people wearing stars were indeed Jewish, then it’s simply not my place to police this. And I will not.

Whether they were Jewish or not is irrelevant. It's deeply offensive to Jewish people. One Jewish person wearing a yellow star does not make it ok, because they're Jewish. Just like one PoC making a racist comment doesn't make racism ok, or a gay person being homophobic doesn't make homophobia ok.

Back in 2018 I spent a lot of time with a WWII veteran helping him catalogue and write his Royal Navy memories.

We really do not have a clue today just how horrific it was.

*doesn't make their racism/homophobia ok

101

There is a lot being said on social media but not much in mainstream news which is interesting given how many people seem to have gone to the one in London at least. I understand there were some elsewhere in the country too.

Just curious if anyone took part
and what people think about the protes

I think they are fab
I reckon there was around a million there yesterday according to reports

York is heaving today
Just fabulous
Even a bit of music is back on the streets
Listening to a pianist .. yep he’s dragged his piano into york centre 😁

Even if there were a million people there, that is barely 1 in 60.

I actually think people hurt their cause protesting like this and push people more towards the Government's way of "thinking"

I think protests that involve huge crowds against vaccination, lockdown and masks during a pandemic are ridiculous

Large gatherings will prolong lockdown by increasing transmission. Vaccination is a way out of lockdown. You can be against some pandemic policies but those who are against everything don't seem to have a solution when you ask how the world should deal with an out of control escalating pandemic.

If you're that committed to protesting you can easily find a way to do it that doesn't risk public health, Greta Thunberg managed loads of creative solutions which didn't involve large crowds.

@Dowser nowhere near a million. Nowhere near. And it IS all over the mainstream media. These people don't know what being silenced is. It's not the same as being ignored because it's silly.
Lockdown was necessary. Should have started earlier. Protesting against it when it is ending is beyond ridiculous. Associating with anti-semites and racists is abhorrent

@TheVampiresWife
Yes, there can be a lot of overlap when it comes to causes and protests. But there's also a very definite cut-off point. And for me, that would definitely include the sort of people marching on Saturday.

Well, I agree with this,

I went to the march with great trepidation, worried that it was going to be full of Qanon types or antifa or god knows what, and I planned to make a quick exit if that was the case.

But it wasn’t. In fact, I’ve never been on a protest with as broad a demographic as this one. Not even the Iraq war or anti Brexit protests were as broad as this one. If you look at the footage of people streaming past the cameras, this is clear.

Having attended, I don’t think the protests can be aligned with a particular political position or social resistance movement, whether that may be Qanon types or whatever.

Also, Lawrence Fox was no figurehead at the march. He was there in the crowd with an entourage of about 4 people, with many more marchers giving him the side-eye (I was one of them).

@Terracotta9 how did you know demographics of the people you marched alongside? How could you know they were or weren't Qanon types etc?

I looked at the website for StandUpX as I wanted to see what it is all about and some of the things on there are ridiculous and nonsense.

I still think that this is going to hurt the cause but I am not sure what the actual cause is to be honest.

Also why would people give Fox the side eye? He is on the protesters' wave length.

Those saying 'we are coming to the end of restrictions so what's the point?' - no, we aren't, we are entering a phase of completely different restrictions, vaccine passports. To many this was the much predicted end game and people are scared and angry that it's happening, when all along they have been called 'conspiracy theorists'. People are scared about what's next and what kind of future their children will have (will the next phase be mandatory covid vaccines for kids to get an education? Its looking like a real possibility) and that is why people are protesting.

I find it very hard not to be angry at the government - the seriously over egged death rates, the mask mandates which are proving pointless as US states lift them and see no difference in infection rates, the constant scaremongering by the press, the millions spent on huge fear campaigns rather than promoting overall health and wellbeing, keeping some businesses closed for another 2 months despite suicide killing more that Covid now, granny murderers etc etc. I'm done and if I could I would have been on those streets yesterday too.

despite suicide killing more that Covid now
Proof?

But it wasn’t. In fact, I’ve never been on a protest with as broad a demographic as this one. Not even the Iraq war or anti Brexit protests were as broad as this one. If you look at the footage of people streaming past the cameras, this is clear.

Ignoring the ‘the London march of 10,000 was more demographically diverse than the global Iraq marches’ silliness, you keep focusing on the marchers, not the organisers.

It was clear before the march that the organisers are, at minimum, fine with anti-Semitic activity.

You lend power to their elbow by going on their march.

Nice one.

Well done to everyone who went on the protest yesterday!
I am glad that many people didn't get brainwashed by propaganda.
We have to say no to vaccine passports, lockdown and vaccine coercion.

"The issue is drawing a comparison between Nazi Germany and the current situation. Yes?"

How Nazi Germany started, i.e with the othering and excluding of certain groups in society, and how we could be starting back down that horrific path by eroding civil liberties and discriminating against unvaccinated people. That's how I understood it.

But wearing yellow stars was NOT the move!!!

Well done to everyone who went on the protest yesterday!

Including the racists?

How Nazi Germany started, i.e with the othering and excluding of certain groups in society, and how we could be starting back down that horrific path by eroding civil liberties and discriminating against unvaccinated people. That's how I understood it.

Have there been centuries of killings, ghettoes, pogroms, scapegoating and other discrimination against unvaccinated people?

This is such a crude, offensive, historically illiterate argument.

Even the people who tried to misappropriate Sophie Scholl and White Rose were less utterly vile than this. They were at least aligning themselves with relatively privileged people victimised for dissent, not race.

Vaccine passports - we already need to prove we've had certain vaccines to go to other countries. It's about protecting people and it's not new. And...it most likely won't happen. The government is in thrall to business who want to open more widely. I'd prefer not to be in contact with anti-vaxxers myself but there we go.
I'd take all of this more seriously if the people who complained about the monitoring didn't do their 'research' on the internet on their phones.

Honestly I’m more disturbed by the rhetoric that we should all be more accepting that the elderly and vulnerable should accept the increased risk of serious illness/death so life continues unaffected.

The Nazi’s propaganda successes weren’t solely their ability to segregate and blame sections of society but their ability to convince people it was necessary at all.

Quite frankly the same comparisons can be drawn on both sides of the lockdown/restrictions argument but I’ve only seen one side that’s basically saying it’s fine for people to die unnecessary deaths and we need to accept this. The other side has pushed the protection of the economy to the absolute limits so I have very little reason to suspect they’re particularly concerned if people die until it starts to affect other infrastructure which leads me to believe that actually it’s better the devil you know when it comes to this particular specific argument.

I’m quite convinced that this is being coordinated by those who need us back out spending and working to fill their own pockets with very little regard for any issue outside of that.

The Nazi’s propaganda successes weren’t solely their ability to segregate and blame sections of society but their ability to convince people it was necessary at all
I was reading about Vichy France yesterday and I was shocked to read that some people did not need any encouragement to adapt and expand on the discrimination.

adopt NOT adapt