These two articles from the Washington Post and the N.Y times on Reagan's visit to England in the early eightees are classics, when looking at the response President Bush recently received. The peace protestors were wrong then, as they are wrong today.
What's that old saying..."fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me"... :)
The Washington Post/June 12, 1984
London Protesters Rain Civilly on President Reagan's Parade
BYLINE: MARY MCGRORY
The grubby north London headquarters of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is pretty much like any other peace office, with no end of young people whizzing around with bulletins and stern expressions.
The CND, which organized the large protest that so annoyed President Reagan on Saturday is, however, different at the top.
That's because its chairwoman, Joan Ruddock of Berkshire, 40, is a charming, mannerly social worker, who, as they say here, "wrong-foots the Tories because she looks like one of them." And its general secretary is Monsignor Bruce Kent, who represents a minority view in a minority church in Britain.
Saturday morning, while the seven world leaders at the economic summit conference were putting final touches on a communique that made them sound like the European branch of the Reagan reelection committee, Ruddock was marshaling her troops for a "demo" against the president's nuclear policies, particularly with regard to U.S. missiles in Europe.
Either 80,000 (police count) or 200,000 (CND count) turned out in Trafalgar Square. The speaking went on for five impassioned hours, and at its height units of the march, which began at Hyde Park, 2 1/2 miles away, were still trickling into the shadow of the four huge lions guarding Lord Nelson's pillar.
Ruddock, who has black hair and an unquenchable smile, was smartly turned out in a cerise cotton jump suit--appropriate for someone who was planning to sit in a street and might have to spend the night in jail.
She took a taxi to Hyde Park--"I don't think I should be driven there, when so many will have walked"--bought herself a matching balloon and took her place in the front row.
Around her were presidents of several British unions, Labor Party leader Michael Foote and any number of young people with Mohican warlocks painted in startling hues of purple or green, who most certainly would have been rushed right to the back in a U.S. demonstration. But the British are not uptight about this sort of thing.
In Hyde Park, Ruddock ran into her husband, Keith, a professor of biophysics. Being British, they talked about the weather. "Awfully hot, isn't it? she asked. He answered, "Yes, dear, and don't worry if you can't get home for supper."
As the column stepped out, she explained that the executive committee of CND, on learning of the Reagan visit, decided not to "demonstrate against an individual." But local chapters, whose membership numbers 400,000, objected. In April, with little time to organize, the leadership gave in.
"We are a democratic organization," Ruddock said.
The marchers, with a sound truck blaring "Give Peace a Chance," set out. A young bobby with a neat mustache walked alongside them. He and a funky march steward fell into cheerful shoptalk about crowd control.
At Knightsbridge, Ruddock broke away; she had to join the civil sit-in, which was blocking roads leading to the U.S. Embassy in Grosvenor Square. When she arrived at the intersection of S. Audley Street and Adam's Row, the protesters had spun little webs of colored strings at each corner and about 50 people were sitting quietly in the sunlight. She sat down on the asphalt.
A double line of bobbies--all unarmed as is the custom here--stood at the metal barricades. Anyone who remembered the plastic visors, the guns and staves of police guarding the Justice Department during Vietnam protests had to be struck with the civility of it all.
Someone struck up "We Shall Overcome," and a leggy blonde near Ruddock called out, "It's taking a bloody long time." Everybody laughed, and even some bobbies smiled. None of them seemed the least bit anxious to take Ruddock into custody.
The hostess at a candy-store luncheonette leaned out the door to watch. The demonstration was bad for business, she said, but being a true Brit, added, "But if that's what they believe, what else can they do?"
At 3 o'clock, amid talk of massive, city-wide traffic jams, Ruddock accepted a TV producer's offer of a ride to Trafalgar Square. She arrived just in time to make a speech, to tell the packed thousands that "we are not anti-American, just anti-missile."
The general secretary of the Communist Party also spoke. A king cobra would as likely be invited to a U.S. nuclear protest.
"It's controversial here, too," Ruddock said. "But our principles are nonviolence and opposition to all nuclear weapons, and they stand with us on that."
As Ruddock applied lotion to a sunburned marcher, a BBC broadcaster came along and told her the police were calling the crowd 80,000. "I'm annoyed," she said, "but I'm used to it." Kent was the windup speaker, and CND's famous cleanup crews moved in to tidy up the square.
Ruddock told a BBC interviewer that it had been "a magnificent day." Reagan disagreed. At a garden news conference at the U.S. Embassy, he expressed disapproval of people who bypass "legitimate channels . . . and take to the streets." What he meant was that Ruddock and Kent had smudged the picture painted at Lancaster House of universal acclaim for the "peace candidate" from the colonies.
The New York Times/June 10, 1984
THOUSANDS IN LONDON PROTEST U.S. A-ARMS POLICY
Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through central London today to protest American nuclear policy as President Reagan and other leaders were concluding their discussions at the economic summit meeting.
Organized by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the march moved from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, where it ended with a mass rally. The route passed within a few blocks of Lancaster House, where the economic meetings were held. With temperatures in the 70's, the protesters were in a carnival mood, and some wore shorts or bikinis.
There were no reports of violence, but the police arrested more than 170 people for obstruction.
According to the organizers, more than 150,000 people took part in the march, including such well-known figures as Michael Foot, the former leader of the Labor party, and Susannah York, the actress. About 200 of the marchers carried irises as a symbol of peace. At the head of the line of march was an 18-foot-long cardboard model of a United States cruise missile and placards saying, ''Return to sender.''
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament advocates the removal of all nuclear arms from this country, including the cruise missiles that were installed near London in December. Britain is ultimately to receive 160 of the 572 cruise missiles in Europe.
Another demonstration took place near the United States Embassy in Grosvenor Square. More than 2,000 protesters had planned to converge on the square from all directions and sit down in surrounding streets, blocking access to the building. But the police kept them behind barricades and out of sight of the embassy, explaining that they had ''a duty to maintain access'' to the building for motor vehicles.
The police arrested a few people near the embassy and detained 33 during another attempted sit-in close to Lancaster House.
Large numbers of police officers were on the streets to control the demonstrations, and miles of streets in central London were lined with metal barriers. Helicopters and mounted police officers were on patrol.
British trade unions, including the striking miners, were heavily represented in the main demonstration, which filled a large area of Hyde Park before it set off across London. Some men rolled up their trouser legs and frolicked in the Serpentine lake, and others enjoyed the antics of trick cyclists, a stilts walker and street musicians.
Roger Spiller, a deputy president of the diasrmament campaign, who made the crowd estimate, said, ''We want them to enjoy themselves.''
He emphasized that ''this is not an anti-American protest, but one opposing Mr. Reagan's policies.''
As they moved down Whitehall, passing Downing Street on their left, some of the marchers chanted loudly: ''Maggie out! Maggie out!'' |
