It's the old WRP tactic...
...of airbrushing demonstrators' placards out and changing the slogans.
Yes, a Tory candidate (for the ultra-marginal Dorset South constituency) has run into trouble by doctoring a photo of himself with Ann Widdecombe to show Ann with blue hair rather than the current blonde... no, sadly that isn't it.
The placards that Ed Matts (the candidate) and Widdecombe are holding up here originally had a photo of an asylum seeker, and 'Let Them Stay'. Now they say, 'Controlled Immigration' and 'Vote Tory for a referendum on hair colour'.
Hopefully some more radically doctored versions of these placards will start doing the rounds: 'I have a radio inside my head controlled by Anne Widdecombe' and 'We have come for your children' would be not bad, for starters.
The WRP reference in this post's title refers to the Workers' Revolutionary Party, who are the kind of people whom the SWP like to say are 'dangerous subversives'. A good mate of mine who is in SWP once showed me a WRP leaflet for a demonstration being organised against tuition fees. The leaflet had a picture of a crowd of demonstrators with placards. The SWP slogans on the top of each placard had been airbrushed off. Why? Because the WRP couldn't organise a demonstration big enough to photograph. Good to see that this tactic has now moved well and truly into the mainstream.
But I do have some soft spot for the WRP because the chap who used to sell copies of 'News Line' some mornings at Sydenham train station was a genuinely nice bloke. Is he still there, I wonder? I haven't been to Sydenham for ages.
Yes, a Tory candidate (for the ultra-marginal Dorset South constituency) has run into trouble by doctoring a photo of himself with Ann Widdecombe to show Ann with blue hair rather than the current blonde... no, sadly that isn't it.
The placards that Ed Matts (the candidate) and Widdecombe are holding up here originally had a photo of an asylum seeker, and 'Let Them Stay'. Now they say, 'Controlled Immigration' and 'Vote Tory for a referendum on hair colour'.
Hopefully some more radically doctored versions of these placards will start doing the rounds: 'I have a radio inside my head controlled by Anne Widdecombe' and 'We have come for your children' would be not bad, for starters.
The WRP reference in this post's title refers to the Workers' Revolutionary Party, who are the kind of people whom the SWP like to say are 'dangerous subversives'. A good mate of mine who is in SWP once showed me a WRP leaflet for a demonstration being organised against tuition fees. The leaflet had a picture of a crowd of demonstrators with placards. The SWP slogans on the top of each placard had been airbrushed off. Why? Because the WRP couldn't organise a demonstration big enough to photograph. Good to see that this tactic has now moved well and truly into the mainstream.
But I do have some soft spot for the WRP because the chap who used to sell copies of 'News Line' some mornings at Sydenham train station was a genuinely nice bloke. Is he still there, I wonder? I haven't been to Sydenham for ages.
1 Comments:
I do believe I encountered the WRP bloke you referred to when I briefly lived in and commuted from Sydenham about four years ago - and I agree: he did seem like a very nice bloke, in that he actually tried to persuade people to buy his paper using reasoned arguments rather than hectoring slogans.
It never worked for me, but I wished him well at the time.
Post a Comment
<< Home