London scene of anti-Tories rally

[Turborama]

Last edited Sun May 10, 2015, 06:20 AM - Edit history (3)

Source: Press TV

Thousands of protesters have marched on the Conservatives' campaign HQ, parliament, Downing Street and are now marching through central London.

According to Press TV's correspondent in London, Narges Moballeghi, the protesters are angry that a party with only about 37% of the vote has a majority in government.

They say the Tory's will destroy the country even further in the next five years with austerity and the dismantling of public services leaving the poor even more worse off

There have already been scuffles with police and there is a heavy police presence across central London.

Read more: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/05/09/410239/Protesters--London-Conservatives

---

Press TV are were the only media reporting on it at the moment time, but there's lots of updates on Twitter and FB.

Lots of photos and vids of the protest in this Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/hashtag/ToriesOutNow?src=hash

Several photos and a video in this GD thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026646872






(Last edit was a mistake, the news was of an earlier protest)

[humbled_opinion]

1. Exactly...

I think similar protests will evolve here if a rightwinger wins the Presidency here in 16.

[villager]

6. Similar protests should've evolved immediately in 2000 / 2001...

n/t

[ellenrr]

16. oh do you mean someone who would drop bombs on innocents,

deport more people than any other president, increase the surveillance state, destroy protection for whistle-blowers?

[6000eliot]

22. Get over yourself.

[msongs]

26. there you go again criticizing the most recent US presidents...going back to the 1800's lol nt

[geek tragedy]

33. ODS. nt

[Dawson Leery]

2. Instant run-off voting is needed.

[cosmicone]

3. Tories have won fair and square

Demonstrations are anti-democratic. If repukes had protested against Obama's win on the streets, we would have called them all sorts of names.

[Turborama]

8. This is just the tip of the iceberg...

More than 200,000 UK ballot papers stolen by van thieves
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/29/uk-election-ballot-papers-stolen-van-thieves-london

"Demonstrations are anti-democratic." WTF?

[Turborama]

14. What's that supposed to mean? n/t

[Liberalagogo]

15. Color me shocked.

[LeftishBrit]

50. 'they (the Met) believed it was a coincidence the stolen van contained ballot papers'.

Yes, QUITE a coincidence....

[Sgt Preston]

10. "Demonstrations are anti-democratic"?

So the losers don't get to whine in public about the winners? That idea would probably prohibit most of the posts on DU during the Bush administration. Are you sure you want to take that position?

[cosmicone]

24. See post #23 n/t

[Liberalagogo]

13. If a repuke had said.....

"Demonstrations are anti-democratic" what do you think the reaction would be?

Might want to reconsider your choice of words.

[still_one]

20. Sorry, demonstrations are a part of democracy period

[cosmicone]

23. Demonstrations against just concluded democratic elections?

I didn't mean all demonstrations are anti-democratic. However, people's will should be respected. Now, if tories commit mischief, it is open season and then the demonstrations would be for a specific issue and not the election itself.

[LiberalLovinLug]

28. the problem is that Cons do NOT rule for everyone

Here in Canada, the Tories won a majority with 39% of the vote. The center/left split up the majority of the vote. They subsequently ruled like they had 100% of the vote. They initiated whatever the fuck they wanted. Lower and lower taxes for large corporations. Muffling of government climate scientists, enacting broad anti-terrorist legislation, stripping environmental groups of non-profit status, offloading healthcare costs onto the Provinces, blind support for the Oil Tar Sands. and on and on. Harper just smirks at anyone who has a problem with that. I suspect that will happen in the UK as well now.

Proportional Representation system of voting should be the norm everywhere. Even though it means more minority governments. It forces coalitions and for parties to work together. It also allows for multiple parties, and a great party like the Green party would not be demonized, but welcomed by progressives, as it wouldn't be splitting votes.

[whatthehey]

45. Proportional Representation? UKIP gets 13% of the vote?

The only thing PR would have done in the last UK elections is move it dramatically more xenophobic and far-right. Take a look again and imagine which parties the Tories would most easily align with to get 50% of the votes and then see if the country would be better off...

[redruddyred]

62. yeah what's up with that ukip

I hear nothing but criticism

[still_one]

31. Any demonstration, even anti democratic ones are Democratic

[rogerashton]

27. They are protesting minority rule --

and you say that is anti-democratic?

I had thought democracy meant majority rule.

The British system is not majority rule but plurality rule. (Here in the states it varies from one state to another. Pennsylvania also has plurality rule.) A majority, roughly two-thirds, voted against the Tories; nevertheless the Tories form the government. In 2000 in the United States, a majority, roughly 53%, voted against George Bush, but Bush became President. See the parallel?

[iandhr]

30. No because the Torries got more votes than

Labour

[cosmicone]

32. Bill Clinton won with just 39% of the vote. Just saying. n/t

[rogerashton]

34. Bill Clinton would have won a runoff, if there had been one.

And hey -- in the German election of 1933, the Nazis won more votes than any other party. Just sayin'.

[Gore1FL]

42. This round is on Godwin! n/t

[King_Klonopin]

39. Names like "Tea Party nut jobs"?

You remember all those white folks dressed up like patriots with the yellow snake flags?
They still haven't gone away.

[LateKnight85]

41. Free Speech is Always anti-democratic.

/sarcasm

[alcibiades_mystery]

43. They did, and we did...they called themselves the Tea Party

We called them Tea baggers. They became one of the most potent forces in American politics, and probably changed the course of the Obama presidency.

[LeftishBrit]

47. Demonstrations are anti-democratic?

One of the key features of democracy, I'd say.

'If repukes had protested against Obama's win on the streets, we would have called them all sorts of names.'


What else has the Tea Party been doing for years? At least our lot don't carry guns.

[still_one]

4. Just like the U.S. Which voted in bush twice, there is no one else to blame but the voters

or in the U.S. Those who don't bother to vote

[Liberalagogo]

11. Bush wasn't voted in.

He was appointed the first time.

And cheated his way in the second time.

[still_one]

19. You can say whatever you want, but the fact is, if there was more voter turnout, there would NOT

have been the issues that occurred

Voting in the U.S. is pathetic, it is always less than 50% of the eligible voters.

Second, the Lawyers and consultants representing the Gore team screwed up. All they needed to do was demand a recount of the whole state, and the argument the Supreme Court used, would have been null and void. The fact that the ballots were screwed up in Florida, and no one from the Democratic party petitioned to have those ballots changed before the election, is more incompetence on our part. In addition, there was a Nader factor in the close states, which made turnout even more critical.

No, I don't buy the argument that bush didn't win. He won the electoral college votes, and because we didn't utilize the proper strategy, we lost period. Kerry's team was just as incompetent. The amazing thing is that after Obama won, and we had a majority in both houses, NOT one thing has been done on a national level to insure accurate voting. That says volumes for our representatives, who have become lazy to do even the most fundamental legislation.

[Liberalagogo]

25. Sorry, you lose

Last edited Mon May 11, 2015, 11:59 AM - Edit history (1)

Try again later. Maybe the Supreme Court will appoint you Lord God King Right, next time.

What an effing bunch of hypocrites.

[Telcontar]

59. A cogent and well reasoned response

Clearly your debating skills are too formidable for any to respond.

[villager]

5. how long will it take until Tory overreach forces Scotland to make an actual break?

Last edited Sat May 9, 2015, 07:42 PM - Edit history (1)

<snip>

The obverse of the Liberals in this election is the Scottish National Party (SNP). Every tendency in advanced post-democracy is being reversed in Scotland, where working-class electoral participation and party membership is rising, not falling.

The SNP took fifty-six seats, up from six in 2010. The tsunami-like proportions of this wipe-out may be exaggerated by the electoral system, but the swing is huge and signifies something far deeper than a shift in voter identifications or, god help us, a “protest vote.” Old right-wing Labour stalwarts like Tom Harris vaguely understand that since the referendum for Scottish independence, something at the deepest strata of Scottish working-class consciousness shifted. But he doesn’t get what shifted, or why.

The reality is that the referendum’s No coalition signified everything that was wrong with Westminster politics: all the main parties in it together, on the side of militarism and the multinationals. Despite Gordon Brown’s absurd “big beast” posturing, despite all the talk of the “UK pension” and the “UK NHS,” Labour attacked independence from the Right, from a position of loyalty to the state, to the war machine, and to the neoliberal doctrines of the civil service.

<snip>



https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/05/labour-miliband-conservatives-british-elections/

[roamer65]

37. 2017. The EU referendum.

The SNP's three goals for a true "go" on independence have been:

1. Solid majority in the Scottish parliament.
2. Solid majority of the Scottish seats in Westminster.
3. 60pct threshold of public support on a referendum.

They now have 2 of 3.

I still believe the 2014 referendum was done more as a trial balloon to see if if could garner significant support and it did.

If England votes for withdrawal from the EU, it's game over for the UK.

[villager]

40. Tory overreach indeed.

And yet, rightwingers can never help themselves.

[socialist_n_TN]

55. And it'll happen quick too. Within 100 days.......

the Tories will be going after everything they want to kill and privatize within the first 100 days because that razor thin parliamentary majority they have won't hold for much longer than that.

Britain is in for an interesting and hot summer. 2/3 of the people who voted, voted for anti-austerity parties and the Tories will try to ram austerity down EVERYBODY'S throat in a very short period of time. That and the dialectic of reaction and resistance will play out quickly and in the streets.

[jwirr]

60. I seem to remember an election can be called for reasons other than it is just every four years.

How does the parliament call for a new election? Seems to me the streets full of people might help that along.

[villager]

61. I hope you're right. Hate to see the 1%ers up in the City of London go unchallenged...

...as they proceed to wreck "The Last of England..."

[roamer65]

63. Just a matter of time, yes.

They will overreach and drive Scottish support for independence to 60 pct and the referendum will pass in Scotland. Hopefully, they can peaceably separate.

[Brickbat]

7. Fuck Everybody Who Voted Tory

[johnp3907]

53. Wow, haven't heard Oi Polloi in ages!

And I was just thinking of them a few days ago.

[Brickbat]

54. Trenchant and relevant!

[Bosonic]

9. I'm not sure they would have liked the outcome of a more proportionate vote

1 UKIP vs 80ish UKIP seats

[24601]

57. Statewide winner-take all contests has the effect of our electoral college amplifying voting

margins.

Proportional representation, allocating electoral votes based on winning each congressional district, or even moving to a popular vote significantly changes the calculus of any national election.

[Bosonic]

58. Yeh it would allow 80+ UKIP MPs to drag the Tories even further right

Brilliant scheme.

[Turborama]

17. Police brutality, England style (Video)

HERE: http://bambuser.com/v/5499931

[Boudica the Lyoness]

56. I didn't see any police brutality

I saw some "girl from my squat' get arrested by two female officers and some low life had written 'Fuck the Tory scum' on a WW2 monument - for women.

Rocks, bottles, barriers, smoke bombs and even a bike were thrown at the police by anti-democracy thugs.

What were the police supposed to do? Let them invade Downing Street?

[Gregorian]

18. Paraphrasing Max Keiser- if the bond market is changing, with all conservatives in office, it'll be

He called it something like "showdown time", since they simply won't have the economic means to pull their stunts (ie, financial crimes and manipulations). Something about asset values going down.

So maybe this is going to be the period where things...something. I really would like to be optimistic.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. The number of seats is in line with the top party in other recent elections

1987: Con 42.2%, 376 seats
1992: Con 41.9%, 336 seats
1997: Lab 43.2%, 418 seats
2001: Lab 40.7%, 413 seats
2005: Lab 35.3%, 355 seats
2010: Con 36.1%, 306 seats
2015: Con 36.9%, 331 seats

Notice that Labour got a slightly smaller vote in 2005, but more seats. While I'd love a more proportional voting system, long experience shows that British voters, on the whole do not. They like a 'decisive' system that favours the leading party. Perhaps that's because the leading 2 parties have hypnotised them into thinking that way, but it's reality. Polls show no interest in changing the system, and the referendum to change to an Alternative Vote (not proportional, but at least giving weight to second choice parties) was comprehensively defeated.

[mwooldri]

29. Auntie has finally got around to covering the story.

http://www.bbc.com/news/election-2015-32678518

[Rosa Luxemburg]

35. The Tory voters just voted against their own interests

Tories unleashed will now dismantle the NHS, continue privatizing services, including schools. Voters were influenced by the media.

[roamer65]

36. The Tories are going to find it hard just to keep the UK together.

The SNP is the equivalent of the Parti Quebecois in Canada.

The Tories go too far and Cameron will only be the PM of England and Wales.

The SNP is not gonna back down. I personally think Scotland will be independent by the next election in 2020.

[Recursion]

64. Yeah but SNP played their hand too early last year

and won't have a chance for I think another 3 years, and it will surprise me if a coalition lasts that long.

[moondust]

38. How do Cameron and today's Tories compare

to the Thatcherites? Worse? Better? Same?

Anybody?

[alcibiades_mystery]

44. They will be far, far worse after this election

It's hard to compare because Cameron has had to negotiate with the liberal democrats to keep his coalition government together. That's all over now. The liberal dems are in disarray, and labor is nowhere. The Tories have taken the whole field. That means they can do literally anything they want. It's Wisconsin for all of Britain now, essentially. Thatcher at least had to contend with 40 years of the settlement, and strong unions. Cameron has few such obstacles.

It will be worse than Thatcher.

Whether the national healthcare system survives is an open question. The unions are over. We're going to get as close to a vision of true conservative economic policy as we can get. Think Brownback in Kansas. Utter devastation.

[moondust]

46. Ouch.

That sucks. I didn't realize they were as radical/bad as Thatcher. Cameron doesn't seem too bad on foreign affairs but I don't follow their domestic politics. Ugh.

[LeftishBrit]

49. I hope not, but who knows

I HOPE that the Tories have enough sense and noblesse-oblige remnants to NOT wish to go down as the government that caused the break-up of the United Kingdom. Which is what is likely to happen if they govern without restraint. Yes, it really has reached that point.

[LeftishBrit]

48. Cameron himself probably a bit better; but he is lazy and lets other people do his work for him

And many of them are as bad as Thatcher or worse.

They have, however, nothing like as big a majority as Thatcher did. This may restrain them somewhat. Or not.

Things that make you go 'argh!'

[moondust]

52. Argh!

[brooklynite]

51. Seems a little late...

...and how many would be protesting if Labour had formed a Govt with more or less the same turnout?