What is there to protest about these days? This is an interesting piece on the 'Democracy Village’ protesters in Parliament Square. Tasty titbits include the description of some protesters protesting against other protesters within their own protest for being Christian; and the fact that uber-protester and London landmark nut Brian Haw views the Village as yet another dastardly plot by the State (the sole, overriding and thus far remarkably unsuccessful purpose of the British state being, of course, to prevent Brian Haw from protesting).
But for me the most striking thing about Tanya Gold’s article was the line “A three legged dog lies on the grass.” Unexpected and jarring, it looks like it’s been put in the wrong place:
There are 20 tents, some homemade signs and a sailing boat near a sound system which the inhabitants use to make speeches and read poems. It is not, as the mayor and other critics have claimed, filthy, but it does have a chaotic, never-to-be-seen-again curiosity: a campsite surrounded by the Treasury, the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey. A three legged dog lies on the grass.
Why is this three-legged dog suddenly brought to our attention? Who is its owner? Is it part of the protest or merely an innocent observer? Or is it a metaphor for something? How significant is the missing leg? Did the State remove it? Does the dog represent the protestors, weakened but defiant? Does each of the three remaining legs correspond with one element of the Treasury/ Palace of Westminster/Westminster Abbey triumvirate? What breed is it, what colour? Above all, is its tongue lolling out so that it looks like it has a big silly doggy grin on its face?
7 comments:
...and is it called Tripod?
And which leg is missing? It can make a lot of difference to a dog - or cat. I've seen a few three-legged cats in my time (and I wouldn't want to see another)...
It was there protesting about the lack of a leg to lift, widdles no longer being the pleasurable experience it once was.
Of course Bruce Springsteen has seen a one-legged dog makin' his way down the street. One wonders quite how the poor thing managed it.
Come along, Hoppy!
its the british version of the Greek riot dog.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/7705535/Riot-Dog-becomes-hero-of-Athens-protests.html
What is there to protest about these days?
The inexorable spread of socialism! Or, was it fascism? Anyway, something is spreading inexorably and Ah'm agin it. I'm going to protest until someone comes up with an ointment.
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