Annoying disruptive heckler gets rewarded by members of the British Labour Party

[Apollo11]

I expect that some of you will be shocked to learn about this guy in England - Walter Wolfgang.

He was very badly behaved at the British Labour Party's National Conference two years ago.

While a very respectable senior member of Tony Blair's cabinet (Jack Straw - who was then the British version of Condi Rice) was making a serious speech about why British soldiers are serving in Iraq, this guy - who was sitting right at the back of the hall - shouted at the top of his lungs "NONSENSE!"

I mean - can you imagine what kind of an attention-seeking jerk this guy must be??? :eyes:

So of course the security guards had to physically remove this guy from the hall and hand him over to the police. Thanks to the extra powers under the "Terrorism Act" (British version of the PATRIOT ACT) they were able to ban this guy from re-entering the Conference. As the Labour Party chairman explained - you can't tolerate someone who is creating a "persistent disturbance".

But wait - you are not going to believe what happened after that.

Regular members of the Labour Party across the country heard about this guy and then some of them tried to hold him up as some kind of a hero!!!

Then last year they actually voted for him to become a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party (British version of the DNC)!

So now this guy (let's not forget - a heckler) gets to participate in regular meetings with the Prime Minister (first Tony Blair, now Gordon Brown) and other highly respectable politicians and take part in the decision-making process at the highest level of the Party structure!

Can you believe some people????? :eyes:

We should be thankful that such a thing could NEVER happen here in America! :patriot:

BBC News, September 28, 2005

Labour issues apology to heckler

The Labour Party has apologised after an 82-year-old member was thrown out of its annual conference for heckling.
Walter Wolfgang, from London, was ejected from the hall after shouting "nonsense" as Foreign Secretary Jack Straw defended Iraq policy.
Police later used powers under the Terrorism Act to prevent Mr Wolfgang's re-entry, but he was not arrested.
Party chairman Ian McCartney criticised Mr Wolfgang's behaviour but said the way he was ejected was "inappropriate".
"I'm going to personally apologise to him," Mr McCartney said. "I'm going to personally meet him if he takes the opportunity."
Mr Wolfgang, who escaped Nazi Germany in 1937, is a member of the Stop the War Coalition.
Steve Forrest, who was sitting next to Mr Wolfgang, was also thrown out after complaining about his treatment.
However Mr McCartney said Mr Wolfgang would not be allowed back into the conference, which ends on Thursday.
The Labour Party has a responsibility to remove people who create a "persistent disturbance", he said.
The party said it would be examining the events leading up to the ejection.
Labour MP Linda Riordan branded the treatment "very heavy-handed". Her attempt to have Iraq debated at the conference was earlier blocked.
Mr Wolfgang shouted out as Mr Straw told delegates: "We are in Iraq for one reason only to help the elected Iraqi government build a secure, democratic and stable nation."
Mr Straw had also compared Iraq to Germany after the World War II, where it had taken four years before elections were held.
(...)
Full article with video:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4291388.stm

BBC News, August 3, 3006

Heckler voted on to Labour's NEC

Walter Wolfgang, the heckler ejected from last year's Labour conference, has been elected to the party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC).
The 83-year-old, from south-west London, was fourth in a poll of ordinary party members - which guarantees him a seat on the body.
He said his heavy-handed treatment in Brighton had "woken people up" to Labour's "control freakery". And the NEC result was "partially a result of that", he added.
The veteran peace campaigner said he would use the platform to speak out against Tony Blair's policy in Lebanon and Iraq and against nuclear weapons.
He also called on the prime minister to quit immediately and said Chancellor Gordon Brown was not the right man to replace him.
(...)
Full article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5243220.stm

You can read more about this guy on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Wolfgang

[truedelphi]

1. Brain damaged heckler becomes first heckler President of the USA

Hmm How should the satire go... Okay in 1969 while serving as a mascot at Princeton, George Bush was not aware that he should hush up when in civics class.

The professor teaching the course was stating how necessary the war in Vietnam was, and since Lil BUsh was a bit blasted out his mind by booze and drugs, he yelled NONSENSE at the top of his lungs.

He was then expelled from the school. And was forced out of the miltary later on.

But this so angered other former mascots of various schools that in 2000 they voted him in as President of the USA (After all, he seemed like the better candidate to go and have a beer with)

The rest is HISTORY

[Apollo11]

2. PS - I would just like to thank

the person who recommended this thread! B-)

:kick:

[baby_mouse]

3. Make me the second K&R

[Apollo11]

4. Luv ya!

:loveya:

[Digit]

5. K&R

[Apollo11]

6. You too Digit!

:hug:

[Apollo11]

7. 101 views

But only 3 recommendations.

Was it something I said? :eyes:

[superkia]

8. Too bad our country doesnt have the foresight they do.

[Apollo11]

9. To be fair, England isn't some kind of paradise

Let's not forget that back in February 2003 it was Labour Members of Parliament who gave Tony Blair the green light to join in with the invasion of Iraq.

OK - so 59 Labour MPs voted against, and another 62 tried to water-down the wording of the resolution.

At that time there were more than 400 Labour MPs in the House of Commons.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,903843,00.html

[Apollo11]

10. Thanks again!

I got a 4th recommendation! B-)

[Apollo11]

11. Who wants to kick me??

:eyes:

:kick:

[tom_paine]

12. Britain is still falling under BushPtuinism as we are, but they seem to actually value their freedom

It is one of the psychological aspects, collectively, that defines the Imperial Subjects of Americka.

Imperial Subjects of Amerika don't value actual freedom beyond being left alone in their/our day-to-day lives, and would gleefully participate in evil atrocities if given the slightest permission to do so by the Bushies.

This is almost certain to happen within this century, and probably a lot sooner.

[Apollo11]

13. I can't believe it!

Tom Paine read my post! B-)

:kick:

[truedelphi]

21. It is a very good post!! n/t

[progressoid]

14. Ha ha ha ha ha!

What? :shrug:

[Apollo11]

15. It doesn't matter if you understood

What matters is that you kicked my thread.

Thanks! :patriot:

[progressoid]

16. My pleasure.

even the anserine deserve a kick once in a while.

[motocicleta]

17. Even geese deserve a kick?

I guess I just kicked too.

[progressoid]

18. Another kick!

Anserine

Adjective
1. (zoology) of or resembling a goose.

2. (informal) having or revealing stupidity; "ridiculous anserine behavior"; "a dopey answer"; "a dopey kid"; "some fool idea about rewriting authors' books".

[FormerDittoHead]

19. Fucking Brits - "manhandling" a 83 year old man who TOLD the cops he'd follow them out...

As opposed to an imposingly large 21 year old who refused to take any instructions from the police and physically resisted them.

Seems to me the black eye goes to the Brits. No wondered they backpeddled so hard.

And if you don't think Andrew Meyer isn't going to milk his 15 minutes way past his clock running out, you haven't looked at his website...

[Apollo11]

20. I didn't see the cops giving instructions to Andrew Meyer

I did see them trying to grab him and physically remove him from the hall, before his questions had been answered.

I did see them refusing to tell him why they were arresting him or why he could not listen to Kerry's answers.

I don't see why it matters what Meyer posts on his website.

There was no need for the cops to get physical with Meyer in the first place - and so says John Kerry, the Florida ACLU, liberally-minded students at University of Florida - and I agree with them! B-)

[Apollo11]

22. Early morning kick

:kick:

[jmp]

23. Am I missing something?

The guy was tossed for heckling. And if he would have resisted his removal with force, he would have been forcibly removed ... the same as Meyer was.

[Apollo11]

24. The point is: Blessed are the trouble-makers

Sometimes it only takes one person to shake things up and say out loud what many are thinking inside.

Even if it means breaking the rules and behaving in ways that many people would say is inappropriate.

Therefore we should be grateful to those who are willing to speak out and insist on using their right to free speech.

Or at least - we should not dismiss them as annoying disruptive childish loud-mouthed trouble-making attention-seeking agitators.

There's always a danger of falling into the old right-wing trap of "ignore the message, shoot the messenger".

Or in the case of Andrew Meyer - "Taze the messenger".

[jmp]

25. "annoying disruptive childish loud-mouthed trouble-making attention-seeking agitators"

The man is what he is. You can ignore it or wish it away, but it won't change what he is.

[Apollo11]

26. Actually, no

Different people will have different opinions about any individual.

You will even find some people who say that George W. Bush is a great President!

The fact that some people might take an instant dislike to Andrew Meyer is their opinion - nothing more than that.

But it doesn't matter what he is - beyond the FACT that he is an American citizen and an unarmed civilian.

He has every right to attend meetings, to ask questions, and to be allowed to listen to the answers.

And he should be able to do all of the above without interference from so-called "law enforcement".