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We haven’t lost the fire in our bellies, we never had it

Jason Tin

by Jason Tin

13 Dec 05:45am

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Filed under: British Riots, Generation Y, Politics, Protesting

60 comments

Quite frankly, I’m a little jealous. I can’t remember the last time I threw a brick at a shopfront, kicked a Royal Rolls Royce or even pulled a face at a grumpy copper.

Students change Twitter avatar doesn't have quite the same front-page potential. Picture: AFP

From memory, it was around the 14th of Never. While I’m not a huge fan of placing my face in the path of a moving police baton, I have to admit I’ve been getting a bit envious of those thronging British Gen Y masses on television.

Now, I’m not in any way condoning the rock pelting, glass smashing and general widespread destruction- but I am condoning the protests. How exciting it must all be.

Set your alarm, whip up an angry slogan, whack on your favourite hoodie, feed the cat and get ready for a big day of yelling and fist-pumping.

I can only imagine the rush these kids are feeling as they march alongside their fellow students, rolling along as one giant ball of Gen Y rage.

Modern British youth has found itself.

It saddens me to think that a massive rise in education costs here in Australia would only see a flood of angry tweets and the odd nine-person hipster protest.

Many of my older colleagues have wondered aloud why Gen Y can’t be bothered protesting about anything.

Is it that we don’t have anything to protest?

Or are we just too socially conscious to take a physical stand on anything?

Perhaps we’re all terrified of turning up to a fancy dress party, only to find everyone’s already bailed. We’re an awkward generation. It’s why we love Juno.

Simon and Garfunkel’s A Simple Desultory Philippic contains a magical lyric: “The Man ain’t got no culture.”

It’s a powerful line that captures that 60s feeling of youthful unity older folk have described to me. In 2010, we ain’t got no culture.

Upward mobility is not a means, but an end.

Our bosses and governments are necessities- rungs in the social ladder crucial for maintaining our grip.

Even as I write this, I’m somewhat worried I’ll alienate older generations. But I shouldn’t be.

Our leaders ignored us at the last election but we still dutifully braved the queues on poll day- only to reward their contempt.

Even Wyatt Roy, Australia’s youngest ever parliamentarian, prefers to rattle on about superannuation and pensions (yes, I am aware he represents an older electorate, but that shouldn’t stop him bringing youth issues to the fore).

Despite our strong access to tertiary education, I don’t believe for one second that there’s nothing left to march for.

There’s plenty.

Global warming, freedom of speech, digital freedoms, anything.

Every decision our leaders make now has ripple effects well into our twilight years.

The act of marching is just as important as the issue. It’s about solidarity.

If we don’t find a generational voice now, the nation is going to pay for it later.

When Gen Y eventually fills the halls of parliament, stands atop the peaks of industry and truly influence policy, we won’t feel an ounce of solidarity.

We’ll be disconnected, disjointed and out of touch with those same people we watched Juno with all those years ago.

I’m not talking about cinder block-throwing madness. I’m talking about peaceful unity.

Every second of every day, our future is being affected by people other than us.

This is our only shot at being young. But if we do organise anything, make sure you Facebook me beforehand and let me know what you’re doing.

That way I’ll know whether to turn up or not.

Most commented

60 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Eric says:

      05:12am | 13/12/10

      Don’t envy those students. Political violence is nothing to be proud of.

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      07:07am | 13/12/10

      If the coalition had it’s way two years ago, and stopped the stimulus, we might be experiencing the same civil unrest in Australia right now! It’s potential should not be underestimated. It can blow out into a full scale revolution!

    • Tombowler says:

      07:58am | 13/12/10

      @acotrel

      Really man? “Revolution’s in the air”

      Pfft… The Times They Are A Changin’ shit never gets old and everyone is always sure they are on the cusp of the new world.

      Inevitably you grow up and nothing really changes.

      The only permanent revolutions are those that are organic, without slogan or activism but a pure shift in social dynamic across a generation or so.

      Way to bring a partisan political rant into it with such finesse by the way.

    • Dash says:

      08:13am | 13/12/10

      acotrel, sorry but I must take you to task over this one. The coalition supported the first stimulus. To say otherwise is a lie. However, they did not support the second stimulus and for good reason. The second stimulus overheated the economy, was not necessary and has played it’s part in interest rate rises. The coalition have been proven right. The second stimulus was wasteful and has added to cost of living expenses.

      Civil unrest has more chance of starting if the ALP put a tax on carbon! This will force everyone’s power bills higher and will increase the cost of any good or service dependent on electricity. That will drive up inflation which will lead to further rises in interest rates. Continual cost of living increases will be the death of this Gillard minority.

      And I notice over the weekend, Gillard is trying to tell us a tax is going to make electricity cheaper???? What? About as sensible as promising to build the Epping to Parrammatta railway!

    • Charlie says:

      09:26am | 13/12/10

      displays how they have the balls to stand up and fight for soemthing they believe in unlike most australian’s who hide behind a bloody computer and think all their country is the result of luck.

    • Dissident says:

      10:33am | 13/12/10

      Charlie, attacking the Royals at a rally or trashing the town is hardly ‘balls’, it is base cowardice. These violent animals took a literal rather than metaphorical interpretation of your ‘fight’ statement and look where it got them. To follow your convoluted logic, maybe to prove their point they should strap a bomb to themselves and get on a crowded bus, do you think that would help? Clown.

    • martin says:

      06:53pm | 13/12/10

      The thing is they only protested when it affected *them*. They didn’t protest when the financial system was going ballistic, house prices were going through the roof. They were too late and now just look like the pathetic sooks that they are rather than having robust ideals like they like to make out to have. They’re just a bunch of self interested little bitches like every other tribe of society.

    • deb says:

      06:06am | 13/12/10

      why do we have to be young? i am 52 and still waiting to have my protest at more than the garbo tipping over my bin on monday mornings.age is no judge of rebellion.i get upright and out a sight but usually im the only one at my solo protest.gets a bit wearing to be waving my beer can at the bloody telly by my self.

      Reply

    • chungo mung says:

      06:18am | 13/12/10

      indeed eric, like he says, he is not condoning the violence, just envying the self respect it takes to stand up for your beliefs and assert ones will on the shape and direction of the world (not to mention choosing to engage in and have thought out beliefs). apathy is so popular because in this country, most of us have ‘more than enough’, thus it easy to sit idly in a comfortable status quo and have little concern for others or the real state of things. My god, we have become so apathetic that many people believe that wiki leaks telling us the truth of our politicians through their haze of spin is deemed an unethical ilegal act, and we are willing to allow powerful groups to assert their will upon a person who (whilst perhaps a baffoon) has played a huge part in this latest game of power and technology. At so many times in history, when the powerful allowed the direction of things to become askew, people have stood together in numbers and truely voted with their feet. Think of all the great social changes that have occurred due to the power of collective opinion. Our modern world is so full of latent ‘pacifiers’ that instead of just preventing foolish violence and angry actions, it ends up numbing the will of the people to such a degree that our younger generations now believe that you are standing up for your beliefs and contributing to the whole by clicking ‘like’ on a facebook cause or buying a big mac on ronald mcdonald house day or watching a documentary on caged pig farming and being shocked whilst you eat honey shaved ham from the local multinational supermarket - on a sanger. No reasonable person wants any violence, but it is reasonable to hope that generations who will inherit this world stand up and ask for it to be shaped fairly and better than it is today in consideration of the rapidly developing modern realities of this accelerated world.

      Reply

    • Super D says:

      07:05am | 13/12/10

      Gen Y would take to the stretes if Justin Bieber cancelled a tour.

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      07:27am | 13/12/10

      Massive job loss and a mortgage crash would do it! That’s the potential in the coalition’s delusion!

    • TimB says:

      07:39am | 13/12/10

      As a member of Gen Y, I am deeply offended by that.

    • Amy Sturt says:

      07:52am | 13/12/10

      Fairly certain that you’ve miscalculated the age range for Gen Y…

    • Grumpy says:

      08:57am | 13/12/10

      Why have you heard something?

    • Tripper Smurf says:

      09:32am | 13/12/10

      Justin who?  I thought he was something for 12 year old girls.

    • MarK says:

      09:48am | 13/12/10

      Who is Justin Bieber?

    • Macca says:

      10:07am | 13/12/10

      I thought Mid-30 mothers would be more likely to take to the streets

    • Dash says:

      10:49am | 13/12/10

      acotrel, unemployment rate is currently higher than it was under the last coalition government when we had full employment. Oh and interest rates were as high as 17% under Keating’s ALP. Still, don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story will you.

    • Dissident says:

      11:16am | 13/12/10

      C’mon Aco-troll - can you please leave the partisan politics aside for a while. Your statement about the coalitions delusion is a shameless attempt to goad someone into a discussion local partisan politics rather than the subject at hand.

      Super D, I think you will find Justin Bieber is not Gen-Y because it is too recent. Rather, he is Generation i (with a little “I”). You know, like i-pod, i-phone, i-gnorance…

    • James1 says:

      12:02pm | 13/12/10

      Dissident,

      I had thought Gen Y was 1980-2000.  By that reckoning, my daughter is three years short of being the same generation as my wife and I, so if you have an alternative year range, please tell.

    • iansand says:

      07:21am | 13/12/10

      What we need is a war and some conscription.  It got me out of my chair.

      Be careful what you wish for.

      Reply

    • Dash says:

      10:51am | 13/12/10

      iansand, you’re starting to sound like the ALP father of conscription - Billy Hughes!

    • BT says:

      07:29am | 13/12/10

      The younger generation would protest if they had the means to. Most uni students have to work to support themselves during study whereas the older generations had free university education and more affordable living expenses. The cost of living, particularly housing in a capital city, is so high that students can’t afford even one day off work to attend rallies.

      Reply

    • KH says:

      09:44am | 13/12/10

      If I remember correctly, ‘older generations’ only had ‘free’ tertiary education from the mid 70s to the latter half of the 80s.  My second year at uni back in 1989 was the first year HECS was introduced, and it has continued to go up ever since.  And living expenses are relative - when I was at uni, most of us also had to have jobs, and housing was no less expensive compared to incomes - students always do it tough if they don’t live at home.

    • iansand says:

      10:48am | 13/12/10

      Pre 1973 fees were payable but there was a very generous Commonwealth Scholarship scheme which meant that anyone with a high enough mark had the fees paid.  Everyonn in Law at Sinny was on a scholarship because the cutoff mark for Law was higher than the cutoff mark for a scholarship.

      Under that was a second tier of Teacher’s College Scholarships - your education was paid for, but you were bonded to teach for a few years (you could duck the teaching but you would have to repay thje bond.)

      I have no problem with HECS, but I think it should be supplemented by scholarships.

    • rach says:

      01:10pm | 13/12/10

      Iansand, there are scholarships - you just have to know where to look. The government itself offers start-up and relocation scholarships. You can even get Youth Allowance AND a scholarship. It’s pretty easy to get one if you are from a rural or regional area. Also, a lot of industries offer them too. I think the main problem is students are too lazy to find and apply for them…

    • michael j says:

      12:43am | 14/12/10

      Most revoluations the big ones anyway are caused when the people go without food for a long period of time ,,,
      some of the poor are starting to go without ,,and they are not all,,bludgers,drunks,or drug addicts,,they just carnt pay their bills
      Many Pensioners are in the same boat,,some are going without food a few times a week,,so they can pay their rent,power,and water bills leaving fa,,all left over,,,, i am not quite in
      the same boat ,,at the same time its not far off,,
      many pensioners have had to go to centrelink to apply for
      benefits after the wealth was rearranged during the GFC
      through no fault of their own they have lost nearly everthing
      how can a $i,000,000 just disapper and vanish ,,
      i find that i carn’t understand it,and i am sure don’t i know
      how to explain it,,,  but i know some who will not go to a charity to BEG for food doesn’t
      matter who its run by,,
      i beleive the next revlution might be run by pensioners,the poor,,and with a bit of help from generation’s,X,Y,Z,
      a new party might be able to roll the circus in the ACT
      becuase all the parties have no idea what they are doing and they are going to destroy this country
      we have no kneed for bloodshed in this country all we
      need is a little commensense,,,,,,,,

    • Eric says:

      07:42am | 13/12/10

      @Acotrel - So if the government didn’t subsidise pink batts, there would be riots and revolution in Australia? I used to think you were a Labor Party hack, but now I realise you’re actually a comedic genius!

      @chungo mung - Jason may not be condoning violence, but he sure seems to admire it a bit too much. Those students aren’t idealistic activists - they’re greedy prats who are smashing things because they’re being asked to pay a bit more towards their own education. He should save his admiration for those who have a worthy cause.

      Reply

    • SallyC says:

      10:37am | 13/12/10

      Riots happen when protest marches are hijacked but a bunch of anarchist sh*t-stirrers who piggy back onto anything just to start a riot.

    • Lauren says:

      08:01am | 13/12/10

      I’m not very familiar with British politics, but those students would be fed up with finally getting rid of the Labour government and entering a new, exciting coalition that just causes further pain… Plus its freezing cold, that would get me cranky.

      I’m Gen Y and I can’t really think of anything I’d be feel strongly enough to protest about. Is it the case of being in the lucky country, where our political outrage extends to one PM being booted out of office and replaced overnight, or that I’m just too damn lazy…

      Reply

    • mona says:

      01:10pm | 13/12/10

      I think I’m firmly in the too damn lazy catergory.

      I mean, a protest would be held in Brisbane city I’m assuming, so that means I have to walk to the train station, by a ticket, then sit on the train for half an hour trying to psyche myself up, to then walk through the city to wherever this protest is taking place.

      Then how long do I have to stay? I mean, the travelling in there means I’d have to stay for at least an hour, but I don’t think a protest can really hold my interest for that long. I’d probably just get to Central station, give up on the protest and go get lunch or something.

      Plus - I just don’t feel that strongly for anything and combined with travel time it’s just ... EH.

    • Adam Diver says:

      08:07am | 13/12/10

      What about the christmas holiday pays in VIC and SA, I would protest for that?

      Reply

    • Stace says:

      08:23am | 13/12/10

      Sure we protest. We just do it online. smile

      Reply

    • ibast says:

      08:32am | 13/12/10

      It is not true we never had it.  the 70s and 80s were full of protest, but when life’s treating you well you don’t protest.  If we were doing it a bit tougher, in general, we would be arcing up at every opportunity, not matter the true impact. Also, governments have learned to remove our rights in very small steps.

      Reply

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      08:55am | 13/12/10

      Hell, I’m surprised that America hasn’t had a full scale revolution, that’s how bad things are over there. U.S dollars or pesos, won’t make much difference soon….

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      09:20am | 13/12/10

      Aren’t these sorts of violent demonstrations kind of retro and counterproductive in this day and age? These sorts of things alienate possible supporters and drive the public to associate negative images with the relevant cause. For example, an image of a young person (who, surprise, turned out to be a spoilt rich kid whose father was in Pink Floyd) swinging from the flag atop a war memorial did the rounds of the British rags.

      Way to turn off just about everyone, guys. There have to be better ways of doing things in this media-saturated environment.

      Reply

    • Gerard says:

      08:31pm | 13/12/10

      “Aren’t these sorts of violent demonstrations kind of retro and counterproductive in this day and age?”

      Yes, they are- according to those in power. They like the status quo and are terrified of anything they can’t control. That’s why they work so hard to convince the public that the best way to change things is not to oppose what’s happening, but to become part of the system. Give the people ownership of the decisions being made, even when the people have no significant influence over those decisions. Slavery is freedom.

    • Tripper Smurf says:

      09:42am | 13/12/10

      I would like to start by clearing up any misconceptions…. I am a Gen Y male, born in 1983 to be exact.

      I feel that its completely incorrect to label Gen Y as truly apatehtic.  Sure many of us have different piorities or are more cynical than previous generations over the course of the world, but this does not mean we do not have a social concious.  In fact many of the older generations derride technology as the death of true protest, however it has spawned such groups as Wikileaks and Anon.

      I for one are one of the few who take this further and to the streets.  Not becuase I believe in everything in the Little Red Book, as some of the more delusional acitivists tend to do, but as a pragmatist, the defense of freedom of speech and the right to disagree with your government is definitley something worth fighting for to ensure a continued free flow of information for the informed public to base their political decisions upon.

      Admittedly, Australia in the last ten years has not had an single divisive issue that has united a single group and mobilised them into action.  Maybe this just means that we have had politicans that have pandered towards public opinion (wether it be right or wrong to do so) more than what they currently enjoy in the UK.

      Reply

    • Jim says:

      10:02am | 13/12/10

      1988…I was a fresh faced UNSW student, sitting down having a sandwich and trying to get my head around galvanic corrosion…when a throng of feral looking students from the ‘arts’ section came storming through on their way to NIDA. Apparently some politician was going to be there for an announcement or something.

      Caught up in the hustle and bustle, I asked “Who’s gonna be there?”
      “Dunno” was the answer
      “What are you all going there for then?”
      “To protest”
      “Protest what?” I ask
      “Who cares man…”

      Sadly the mob mentality had taken over so many already. I went back to my sanga…

      Reply

    • Markus says:

      10:26am | 13/12/10

      I went to a protest once. A fat lady in her fifties continually banged a snare drum and answered rhetorical questions.

      Bob Brown: That’s not what we stand for!
      Drum Lady: It’s the opposite! *bangs drum out of time*

      It turns out my disdain for the standard protester is stronger than my outrage over any issue.
      Thank you Fat Drum Lady, for helping me become the cynical bastard I am today.

      Reply

    • Zeta says:

      10:28am | 13/12/10

      When society no longer permits adventure, the only adventure left will be to destroy society.

      Reply

    • hot tub political machine says:

      10:44am | 13/12/10

      Sorry to pick on this author in paricular, this article is slighty less obvious than most, it even seems to have a point outside the usual emphasis on generational division- but has anyone ever written a decent article that contained the phrase “Gen Y?”

      Honestly its become a marker for me to just skip the article. On the odd occassion like this when I read through I’m inevitably regretful I didn’t follow my first instinct.

      Just the phrase Gen Y should be an orange flag to a reader and I think a red flag to a writer

      Reply

    • Adam Diver says:

      01:50pm | 13/12/10

      Sorry, didn’t read your comment I saw the phrase “gen Y” and passed.

      Couldn’t agree more also “climate change” what are we going to protest, against properity, against breathing?

    • Entitled Generation says:

      11:21am | 13/12/10

      Entitled generation is entitled.

      I think a war or economic collapse would be a good thing as it would remind these kids, and people in general, how the world works.

      The level of mindless consumerism, decadence and privilege people have today is bad for the soul and is just simply breeding a society of pigs feeding at a corporate trough.

      Some of these socialists think our government has a magic money tree and that debt doesn’t matter. This thinking is largely the cause of our economic woes.

      Reply

    • Apathetic_GenY says:

      01:22pm | 13/12/10

      F*** you old man smile

      We’re a lot more switched on and a lot less entitled than you think.  Which you would know to be true if you had any grip on reality.

      I think the problem with my generation’s alleged ‘apathy’ (I’m loathe to call it this because we’re not) is that the old farts tell us to we should be seen but not heard, like we’re still kids, and we put up with it because we don’t want to be told we have no respect for our elders anymore (we don’t of course, but only because they’ve done nothing to earn it). 

      Our parents as youngsters outnumbered their old farts and so were able to put them in their place by a show of numbers, the same with the generation before that. 

      These days us GenYs have to listen to smug, self-important, bloated, wheezing, intolerant old farts who wouldn’t know a technological advance if it slapped them in the face and who think they know us better than we know ourselves.  Since we don’t have the numbers to tell these people they’re wrong (at least until all the Boomers finally croak) we don’t bother trying.  Our day will come though, just it’s not soon enough.

    • Other - GenY says:

      02:30pm | 13/12/10

      Apathetic_GenY

      Righteous indignation rant - without the righteous bit.

      “tell us to we should be seen but not heard, like we’re still kids”
      by the looks of this rant, you are still a kid.
      Stop talking and giving the rest of us a bad name.

    • Gonzo says:

      11:49pm | 13/12/10

      @Apathetic:

      Shut up and go to your room. Adults are talking here and there´s no place for your tantrum.

      If your time will come, then wait for it. In your bedroom. with your i-Pod.

      i-Diot.

    • Dan says:

      11:27am | 13/12/10

      As a former Gen X protester of university fee increases in the 90s I can tell you that you are not missing anything.

      Generally speaking protests are the politics you engage in when you have no power and you hope that someone with power will listen to you. But if they do listen, all they hear is “the students…. united…. will never be defeated” (because they have never been before right?)

      Maybe Gen Y are just a bit smarter than we were when we were at Uni and they can recognise that taking a walk with friends achieves very little political change. Maybe they have also recognised that those organising these sorts of protests are usually the only ones who benefit.

      Don’t worry, there are plenty of us who would engage in serious civil disobedience if the time called for it. There is still a bit of fire out there in this former convict colony. Take a look at what happened with the Murray Darling Basin Plan and that was just a warning.

      Reply

    • Gerard says:

      08:49pm | 13/12/10

      “If the time called for it”?

      NSW has been screaming out for civil disobedience for more than a decade and nothing’s been done.

    • DK says:

      11:43am | 13/12/10

      Activism died with the Dead Kennedys. Now we’re all just chickenshit conformists (not in the same context of the song, just in case one of you wanted to go to flame school).

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      11:48am | 13/12/10

      We’ve got the fire.
      Just that nothing lately is undemocratic enough for us to use our gruff.
      I remember a few years ago in France the truck-drivers lined the roads from Paris to Lyon (supposedly 20,000 of them), protesting at fuel costs, and our truckies, coincidentally, just cancelled a 24 hour strike cause they didn’t want to lose a day’s pay.
      As it turned out, our locals were right : they got what they wanted a week later, anyway.
      My hidden point is this : we’ve got the fire ; we’re just waitin’ fer the biggun’.

      Reply

    • Gerard says:

      09:00pm | 13/12/10

      “nothing lately is undemocratic enough for us to use our gruff”

      Stephen, I can only assume that your surname is Conroy. Political correctness, censorship, and nanny state restrictions on driving, alcohol, fishing (FFS) and anything else governments can get their hands on (even mexican waves are now illegal) are killing freedom in this country. Maybe once public protest is banned everyone would decide it was “undemocratic” enough to actually do something?

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      12:35pm | 13/12/10

      On another tangent, I didn’t know that the Victorian police worked for Visy….

      Reply

    • Dazeddazza says:

      01:36pm | 13/12/10

      I have been around for many years, and in all that time it has been the students of the world who have started and led protests, with often positive results.  I think the Australian students have lost the fire in their bellies. 
      Another reason could be that we have a lot of international students in our tertiary institutes who will not participate when Mum and Dad expect them to concentrate on their studies.

      Reply

    • Seth Brundle says:

      03:32pm | 13/12/10

      Gen Y don’t protest anything because they are too stupid and ignorant to know what it is they are supposed to be unhappy with, including those who are “graduates” (who, despite their “education” can barely read or write).  Personally, I find it reassuring to know that my employment prospects are not going to be threatened anytime in the future by the younger generation, none of them being capable of doing what I do for a living.

      Reply

    • Tripper Smurf says:

      05:52pm | 13/12/10

      Never say never old man.

    • Sludger says:

      04:30pm | 13/12/10

      And then you could ask:  ‘What’s the bloody point?”

      Reply

    • sandra nelson says:

      06:42pm | 13/12/10

      we have beer in our bellies and not fire.

      Reply

    • Gerard says:

      09:29pm | 13/12/10

      For as long as I can remember, all I’ve been told is what a great country this is, how lucky I am to live here, how well the ‘democratic’ political system works. I think most Australians would share this experience- and it’s a major cause of political apathy.

      Apart from the Eureka Stockade (a relatively minor incident which is studiously ignored by the public at large in favour of Gallipoli), Australians have never been pitched into a life-or-death battle with domestic authorities on a matter of principle. The result is that this country is seen as some kind of utopia with indefinite prosperity. Combined with an ignorance of world history and the attraction of power (Russian Revolution, Spanish Civil War, fall of the Roman Empire, even Mugabe’s Zimbabwe), this attitude is a recipe for disaster.

      Reply

    • Revolting Peasant says:

      08:17am | 14/12/10

      While I don’t condone violence or wanton vandalism I think a full scale revolution is inevitable and close. Shane from Melbourne - The people of the US aren’t protesting because they’re afraid of the consequences. The US Patriot Act has put paid to any form of dissent lest a person be branded a terrorist “you’re either with us or you’re against us”. Scary stuff. 

      But so many ordinary citizens around the world have come to realise they do have a voice and are now using it to topple corrupt governements or to fight for their freedoms.  Wikileaks (love it or hate it) is fuelling our already long held mistrust of those in power and I think if anything will trigger a mass revolution it will be the kinds of laws we see in America. Where ordinary people will be jailed for speaking out.  Then it will be the time to really fight and potentially for our lives. I’m off to don the camo pants and beret and head for the hills.

      Viva La Revolution!!!!

      Reply
 
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Paul Colgan

Colgo 24 May 13 04:40PM

@Colvinius Oh dear. The last lines of defence are the soles of our boots. @RogerHighfield

Paul Colgan

Colgo 24 May 13 04:37PM

Been trying to get to this: Kevin Rudd's detailed logic for changing his mind on gay marriage http://t.co/27xczsz9nR

Lucy Kippist

lucyjk 24 May 13 04:32PM

@LizzieMeryment Could be #swf?

Daniel Piotrowski

drpiotrowski 24 May 13 04:29PM

My afternoon: hearing @LisaMuxworthy and @AskBossy laughing at this every three minutes http://t.co/Af94aognZa @newscomauHQ

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