How the chattering classes exploited Brian Haw - IRAQ campaigner used?

How the chattering classes exploited Brian Haw

Brian Haw being arrested last year (Photo: PA)

The saddest thing about peace activist Brian Haw’s life, which has now come to an early end, was the manner in which he was exploited by some liberal journalists and activists. Too lazy or jaded to go out and protest themselves, they figured that so long as old Bri was plonked in Parliament Square, his badge-coated hat glinting in the sun and his photos of dead Iraqi babies freaking out tourists, then at least there would be one corner of England that was forever radical. They pushed Haw forward as a kind of permanent advert of their kind’s disgruntlement with the Iraq War, giving little thought to what impact this political burden might have been having on Haw.



So a couple of years back, during one of the authorities’ failed attempts to have Haw removed from Parliament Square, the Green Party’s Jenny Jones declared: “Brian is doing us all an amazing service.” She described him as “the visible presence of widespread opposition to the aggression in Iraq”. If Haw was removed, it would “diminish the whole of society”, she said. The leading Lib Dem Susan Kramer described Haw’s camp as “a reminder that we live in a democracy”. Haw was explicitly being used as a political prop, his musty camp described as the “visible presence” of an anti-war sentiment which, in reality, fizzled out pretty quickly in early 2003. Anti-war campaigners may not have been able to sustain or solidify public anger about the war, but they could at least point to Brian as a lingering physical manifestation of such anger. His removal would have been a disaster for them.



So they did everything they could to keep him there. Tony Benn provided him with sandwiches. Jon Snow, self-described “pinko” and spokesman for the bike-riding, Daily Mail-hating classes, presented Haw with “most inspiring political figure of the year” in 2007, as voted for by the viewers of Channel 4 News. Artist Mark Wallinger won the prestigious Turner Prize for recreating Haw’s camp inside the Tate, which had the added bonus of allowing those liberals who claimed to love Haw but would never dream of visiting his increasingly grotty camp to visit an exact replica of it in the rarefied environs of Pimlico instead. In flattering Haw, in providing him with both bodily and political sustenance, the chattering classes ensured that he stayed put. Thus could they relax at home, sipping organic apple juice as they watched Channel 4 News, comfortable in the knowledge that there was still one man out there who was acting as a “visible presence” of their angst about Tony Blair, David Cameron, war, aloof governments, and bad things in general.



The kindest thing that the so-called supporters of Haw could have done would have been to convince him to call it a day. A week-long camp outside Parliament might have made some impact on the public consciousness – but 10 years? Not only did the longevity of the camp rob it if of any political purchase whatsoever, turning it instead into a permanent eyesore, like roadworks, that Londoners vaguely grimace at as they walk past, but it also took its toll on Haw and his personal life and relations. Towards the end, it was difficult to avoid the conclusion that what we were witnessing was a nervous breakdown being played out in public. But so long as his camp-cum-mental-collapse served the interests of liberal observers who could think of no more imaginative way to oppose war or challenge the authorities, Haw was goaded on by his various cynical champions.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100092861/how-the-chattering-classes-exploited-brian-haw/