Art Of Peace

To be honest my contribution to my favourite daily read has been a little thin, but you guys are quite inspiring so I thought I'd share in my collection of snippets that help me believe humanity isn't a lost cause. This quote refers to an article in a London newspaper on the "Mayday" riots that unfortunately seem to have become an annual event. BTW in case you're not not aware, "Met" stands for the Metropolitan Police Force.

Philosophy is Met's new weapon against protests

The Met has a new weapon when it comes to dealing with anti-capitalist protesters: they crush demonstrations with dialectic. It's not a pretty sight.

It happened today at the demonstration outside Coutts Bank in the Strand. Keen to move to the next hot-spot, satisfied their point had been made or just plain bored, a handful of activists tried to leave the small picketing area outside the bank.

Surrounded as they were by about four times as many police officers, this proved a little difficult

The impasse was resolved within a few minutes, but not before one young chap called Mattan in a Che Guevara T-shirt decided to take the matter up with the nearest senior police officer.

Big mistake.

"Why are you being so hostile?" he berated the officer. Somewhat to his surprise the officer -- Chief Inspector John Morgan -- answered back: "Why are you being so hostile?"

To Mattan's even greater surprise, Chief Inspector Morgan began to quote Che, saying "At the risk of seeming ridiculous, the true revolutionary must be motivated by a love of his fellow man."

It turned out there was a good reason for Chief Inspector Morgan‘s knowledge of the Latin-American revolutionary -- his wife is Argentinian, and Che was her second cousin.

But it seems the revolutionaries outside Coutts Bank could not hold a candle to the man who inspired a million bed-sit posters.

Chief Inspector Morgan said: "You get people coming along with pre-conceived opinions, you demolish those and they just can't follow them through.".