Bloggers take Bush protest to cyberspace

New Delhi
22 February 2006

The protest against United States President George W Bush's visit
to India has reached cyberspace.

A blog page has been started by a blogger containing links to anti-Bush remarks and
sentiments as part of the campaign against President Bush's visit to India commencing
in a week from now.


"This is an endeavour to encourage people to create more blogs opposing Bush's visit
to India," the administrator of the blog suggests and invites emails from just about
anybody interested in making their voice heard against the Bush visit.

"The aim is to carry forward the struggle in the virtual space also. We appeal all the
patriots, peace loving people on the globe, to campaign for having more blogs coming up
on the occassion of his visit.

"We want the blogger community to rise to the occassion and have as many individual
blogs as possible with a variety of content like poetry, photographs, cartoons, writeups,
humour, etc," the administrator of the blog adds.

Already over 300 visitors have accessed the blog page. It contains links to Indians,
Americans, Canadians and others who have posted their views and comments on it. One
such link has posted certain Abu Ghraib prison photographs. Another depicts a graphic of
Bush behind bars and urges the "global terrorist" to go back.

"Ambush Bush's plans before his Iran Putsch!" writes a blogger with an Indian name.
"Anyone who has seen the miseries of the prisoners of Abu Ghraib, the detainees at
Guantanamo Bay, the unrequited victims of Hurricane Katrina ... would squirm at the
thought of Bush receiving a red carpet welcome in sovereign India, my country, which
was born out of a struggle against imperialism, the kind peddled by Pax Britannica," he
observes.

Joining the bloggers in the Bush-Go-Back campaign will be certain civil society
organisations, writers and activists. Demonstrations have also been planned by the Left
parties, which are supporting the UPA Government from outside.

The activists including writer Amresh Mishra clarify that the focus of the campaign will be
the Bush Administration, not America or Americans. "This is also not about Muslims,"
they observe, and suggest that the campaign will be about human issues and
individuals from all walks of life will join.

No comments: