Cuts, Poppies and Frankie Cocozza

Yesterday, the 9th of November, I spend about 1 hour, from 11.30 to 12.30, roving the brewing demonstration -against, what?- outside the University of London Union (ULU) building, in Torrington Place. The display of policemen was big and that of photographers even bigger. The participation was not massive. I don't know how to make an estimate; 10,000, I read. Maybe, half of that?, about that?

I keep wondering who organized it and how. What kind of support do they have? How much money? Why that big media support? All we students have received at least 2 mails encouraging us to join the march in the previous days. Apparently, the data is filed once you registered and the ULU is allowed to use it, albeit you can get your name unsubscribed by "making click on a link".

As far as I can understand, the UCL Head Office is the first interested in throwing its cubs against the Government on the grounds of cuts and fees. Given the precedence of Malcolm Grant against Cameron, I would not be surprised. I don't understand the link between cuts in public spending and increasing the fees to students. If the money going into public Universities needs to be cut, as far as a Government democratically ellected thinks, why the UCL has necessarily to increase the taxes to students? There is an advert in the tube: "Just because we can increase the taxes, does not mean we do it". Exactly. I am sure not everything running at UCL is efficient; the opportunity should have been used to make changes and improve... Significantly enough: the protest is rather against cuts, but not against fees. Why are the students not demonstrating against the University?

The rest is pure propaganda, the market, the privatization, the same old marxist ideas.... What?? Got any doubts? Within the Empire of the Law and an independent Justice, got any doubts? Capitalism is BETTER that anything else.

To a large extend, the demonstration yesterday was a shout from the left to hail marxism or whatever form of socialism and slander capitalism. The message and the placards were unanimous in this. And the Sea of Rage was not entirely absent.

I must confess that the first of these two photographs breaks my heart tenderly. I turned 34 last Sunday; I could advertise the message, because my life now is the opposite of each sentence, one by one; furthermore, I feel tied up and not at all free. The snapshot with the boy wearing a "Che"-T-shirt behind the placard and next to the group of The London School of Economics is so f***ing odd, so coool.

The reformation of Education -or whatever- by means of white papers is old stuff. I had fun recording too different opinions about it:

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There is something political about the English soccer players wearing the poppy in their shirts this Saturday in the up-coming game in Wembley against Spain. That's how I see it. But, what I say, ha, ha, what would you expect, Mr. Blatter? If you organize a friendly game for the Remembrance weekend, what would you expect?

I read in The Sun that Prince William was kind of furious and sent off a letter to FIFA bosses. I think it is kind of nice. I just hope he did not do it just because he has lost friends in battles and was "particularly incensed" about it. A Prince, a King must be cold as hell.

The English should know that this coming Saturday their National Team is playing against a group of Spaniards with a significant problem to identify themselves as belonging to the same nation. At least, part of them. The UK veterans showed angry recently at the findings that the HMS Belfast Ship Museum has been kicked out from Olympics posters by photoshop. In Spain, on the contrary, we feel ashamed to remember any single part of our -sometimes- brilliant War History... .

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I find outrageous the case of Frankie Cocozza. It seems that all that matters -even to his father- is that he has lost a life opportunity (sic). (To do what?, I wonder). Nobody seems to be worried about this teenager who is on drugs, goes on binge drinking all week long and finds natural to have tattooed in his ass his female conquests. A natural thing... .

Of course, it all can be a put-up strategy: you know, the bad results of X-factor lately, the unfair decision last Sunday about Cocozza against other guys, and so on. Even sadder.

My friend J. -he has 2 PhD, one in Physics and another in Chemistry; and it's a long time no see!- used to praise Blade Runner: "It's fascinating:", he used to say, "a world where Governments do not exist and we are run by big Corporations".

The time is come.

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