Tony Blair’s book signing in London on Wednesday has been cancelled, with security concerns being cited as the main reason. A book signing on Saturday in Dublin was marked by protests from anti war protesters.
Regardless of what you thought about the war or what you think about Blair’s policies, who on earth do these protesters think they are?
They shout their nonsensical language of war criminal (ridiculous) and liar (untrue, unless you think the entire international intelligence community was lying at the same time – see Chris Mullin via John Rentoul here). You would think that Blair was some kind of dictator figure who forced us into war. The truth is that, after months of anguished debate, soul searching and record breaking marches, the House of Commons voted in favour of taking the country to war, after a tremendous speech by Blair.
Ironically, these protesters seem pretty detached from the democratic processes in this country. Indeed, many of them seem more attached to a handful of tinpot dictators around the world.
You may disagree with Blair on almost every major issue but the violence of potential violence of protesters should not stop citizens from meeting their PM for a decade. Tony Blair won three elections with landslide majorities. One of these elections was two years after the decision to go to war. A recent poll of academics marked him down as the third most successful PM since the war. His autobiography has been one of the best selling of all time. Why, then, should a handful of zealots prevent a former British PM attending a book signing in our nation’s capital?
It is only reasonable that people would want to attend his book signings. It is rather a shame that the protests of a handful of activists has prevented those book signings from taking place.
The protesters will probably regard the cancellation as a triumph.
What it really represents is a defeat for pluralism and free speech. It represents the triumph of an anti democratic mob.
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I have to disagree with you here Dave.
Blair chose to pull out of the book signing. As far as I am aware the Met were ready to police the event and his supporters would have probably out-numbered his detractors. How many protesters were there when he appeared at Chilcot? A manageable number. I know you will agree with me when I say that people should have the right to protest, even if you don’t agree with it. (Though I do draw the line at protest being used as an excuse to squat.)
Blair pulled out because he did not want a repeat of the scenes from Dublin, he didn’t want to be criticised for wasting state resources and he didn’t want to be associated with images of angry anti-war protesters. It was basically a PR decision about how best to protect Brand Blair.
Have to disagree with you here David.
Blair chose to pull out of the book signing. As far as I am aware the Met were ready to police the event and his supporters would have probably out-numbered his detractors. How many protesters were there when he appeared at Chilcot? A manageable number. I know you will agree with me when I say that people should have the right to protest, even if you don’t agree with it. (Though I do draw the line at protest being used as an excuse to squat.)
Blair pulled out because he did not want a repeat of the scenes from Dublin, he didn’t want to be criticised for wasting state resources and he didn’t want to be associated with images of angry anti-war protesters. It was basically a PR decision about how best to protect Brand Blair.
Betapolitics – thanks for the comment.
There was a threat of violence before and during the book signing (and also tonight’s launch party, which has also been cancelled), which would have been a real drain on Police resources. The police were considering how to beef up security arrangements even further for the events.
Blair made the call (probably the right one) that police resources would be wasted in policing a book signing and that they had better and more important things to be doing.
The ‘Stop The War’ alliance have described the cancellation as a “victory”.
In my view, it is a massive shame that a three time election winning PM and a best selling author cannot attend a book signing in his own capital because of the actions and threats of a mob.
Yes, I certainly do believe in freedom of protest. I also believe in pluralism and freedom of speech. The anti democratic activists (probably with more than a hint of SWP about them) don’t seem to have any respect for freedom of speech whatsoever.