The Front
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THIS SHOP Will. it CLOSED oil SATURDAYISTII FEBRUARY 2003 to GIVE our sun yillEllllAllCEm mummy
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: THIS llllllcllllllls WAR.
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Absolutely nothing, say leading lights. Compiled by: Ruth Hedges
udderin politics has come alive
again. People are talking about it at
home. at work, in schools. down the pub - the much maligned apathy of the UK population has been kicked sWiftly into touch. Bush and Blair's threat Of war on Iraq has caused the biggest public out(:ry since Vietnam and is culminating on Saturday 18 February With protests across the country. Scotland is gathering in Glasgow Green from where the expected 20.000 will march to the SECC to COInclde With Blair's address to the Scottish LabOur Conference. The List asked writers. musiCians and artists for their Opinions.
Alex Cox, filmmaker I am very strongly against Britain or America or anyone else making war against Iraq or any other country. Naked grabbing of other people's territory is despicable; it creates corporate profit. envrronmental ruin. hatred and misery.
I Jon Ronson, writer and I . documentary maker l ' think I oppose the war on Iraq fOr all the ObVious reasons — America's poodle. Oil, Bush is insane. Saddam had nothing to do With 9 1 t. clash Of cwrlisations etc. But. then again. I supponed the NATO Kosovo war. so wonder if my opposition to this one is. in fact, irrationally Influenced by my abiding dislike Of Bush.
4 THE LIST 'tlr—L/‘Z‘ Feb 20-01%
David Greig, playwright Why Will I be in Glasgow on the 15th? It's not Just that the proposed war is immoral and uriiustified and Will result in the death. terror and economic devastation to millions Of Iraqis. It's not simply that it's driven by a deluded fundamentalist Christian agenda. rapaCious Oil politics. and a desperate desire to distract us from the failure to capture Osama Bin Laden. It's because I feel that the world is currently on a hair trigger Of masswe and prolonged conflict between the world of Islam and the American led west. This war. however shOrt and painless for us now. will plant seeds Of horror that we and Our children Will reap for decades to come. We must do everything we can to stop it.
Joseph Malik, DJ It's about time we started making more political mUSic to answer back to the governments that start a war in our name. You only have to lOOk back to the past to artists like Man/in Gaye. John Lennon and Gil Scott Heron. who used their mu3ic and their art to challenge the minds Of a yOunger generation and make them aware of their governments actions. It's very eaSy to see that Tony Blair and GeOrge Bush are strictly in this for the money. or shOuld we say. the w0rld's Oil supply. Osama Bin Laden hates Saddam Hussein. so why put them bOth together as the enemies Of the
world? If this war goes ahead. America and Britain ‘i‘i'lll now be the enemies of the world. and COO help them if they start a war with Korea. God help us all.
Ed Harcourt, musician Human beings are all lust a bunch of long versions of pig-like dogs. except we treat each other w0rse than animals. This world has turned into piece of ranCid. rotten shit. In a way. a war that concerns the natural reSOurces of the very world we have sought and succeeded in SCreWing up. is very appropriate. Tony Blair is in awe Of an ape. We can only try to protest as he becomes mom and more deIuSional; espeCIally when he disregards what the public want in faVOur of the corporations of America.
‘ Kevin Williamson,
Q. publisher of Rebel Inc Wars by their definition require two Sides to take part. So this WI” not be a war. What is being proposed here is the dropping Of 200 Cruise misSiles on Baghdad in a 48-hOur murderathon sponSOred by the Oil multinationals. conducted and orchestrated by the Bush-Blair military Junta. With edited highlights screened by FOX. CNN and the BBC. I'm against international Oil piracy whether sanctioned by the UN or not and I weiildn't piss on these cowards in swts who send other peOple to kill on their behalf. The United States of Aggresson must be stopped.
Robert Newman, comedian The US doesn't want regime change — otherWise they w0uldn't have spared the
.. Republican Guard before — they want leadership change. They don't want a western-style democracy because then they might have a western-style welfare state which w0uld mean haying to have a western-style nationalised Oil company. And the last time we did that. we Overturned Abdul Karim Qassim and replaced him With the Ba'ath party and then gave their charismatic new leader Saddam Hussein loads of money to fight the Iranians who had nationalised the Anglo-Iranian Oil company.
' Kenny Hunter, artist I do think it's about Oil. Behind the pretext of 9/1 1, Afghanistan was about Oil and gas from the Caspian sea and this situation wrth Iraq is no different. The facade is of a mom! high ground. behind which lurks humanity's most base instinct. secwing valuable natural reSOurces. The Taliban and Saddam are both obstacles to this goal.‘
Not in our Name, Mr Blair - demo and rally, meet at Glasgow Green, 10am; rally at SECC, 2pm. 0141 423 1222. Free. Sat 15 Feb.
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COMING SOON
I Nicole Kidman is in talks to play the title role in a new superhero movie. Catwoman is about a vulnerable moggie-lovlng gymnast whose alter ego is superconfident and fights evil. In an outrageous step. it is thought the star is waiting to see a final draft of the script before making any decisions . . . Rumour(s) has it that flootwood Mac are set to Spring their first new material since 1986 upon us. Threatening to impinge upon Our ears by the end of April, Say you Will features the 'classic' line-up of Mick Fleetwood. John McVie. Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks . . . After the out-of- character evilness he displayed in Sexy Beast. Ben Kingsley is down to play the villain in the new Thunderblrds movie. He will take on the role of the Hood who plans a coup of International Rescue HO . . . The Dead Kennedys will be resurrecting the good old days (albeit without their leader Jello Bistro) with a couple of dates in Scotland this April . . . John Clooso is about to start writing a film based on Roald Dahl's children's book The Twits. The stOry centres on the two nastiest people in the world who train animals to execute their elaborate heists. Cheeky monkeys.
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