Tag: pirates

A Day At The Seaside – 2004

A Day At The Seaside: It was Saturday 14th August 2004 and a day at the seaside seemed appropriate, and where better than Hastings where the Old Town Carnival was taking place.

A Day At The Seaside

Rather than mine my ageing and probably false memories, I’ll here resurrect the text hidden away on the August 2004 page of My London Diary, with a few minor corrections. Since then I have decided that it makes sense and greatly improves legibility to make appropriate use of the Shift key and upper case characters. So here it is, along with just a few of the pictures I made that day.

A Day At The Seaside

OK, so Hastings isn’t London, but it is only a short day trip down to the coast, and many of the people down there with me to watch the carnival were from London. Hastings Old Town Carnival was once a traditional English Carnival, but now is more eclectic, though still with relatively little input from our more recently arrived ethnic groups.

A Day At The Seaside

Being Hastings there were a few references to the events of 1066 (though not in the pictures I put on line.)

A Day At The Seaside

There was a well-supported float for the Hastings/Sierra Leone Friendship Group, but we also had King Henry VIII, Noahs Ark, Pirates, a Tropical Island, Fairy Tales, Chicago-Style Gangsters and more.

I’m not a great fan of majorettes, but there was certainly some virtuoso baton twirling on display, including one lady who needed a lorry to carry her prizes.

Judging from the pictures of previous years there was perhaps a little less zany invention this year than before, but it was a good-natured event, and the centre of the Old Town was crowded to watch it.

Rather than battle it out through the streets I adjourned to the Kings Head for a couple of pints, only to find the carnival was still making its way round as I made mine to the station.

I wasn’t entirely happy with the pictures I made that day; too many were of people posing for the camera and I would have liked more spontaneity. But the kind of things I was searching for just didn’t happen.

Carnaval Del Pueblo – 14 Aug 2004

The following day I photographed another very different carnival in London, the Carnaval Del Pueblo billed as the largest Latin-American festival in Europe, taking place around the Elephant and Castle in south London. We have few traditional English carnivals left in London, but others have taken their place, reflecting the changing population, adding colour and spice to our city. You can see more pictures here.

More pictures from Hastings
More from the Carnaval Del Pueblo

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Gentlemen o’ Fortune in London

Ahoy! Some years ago I let me younger son, then in his 30s, use me ‘puter while he was stayin’ wit’ us, ‘n afterwards found that he had changed t’ language on me Facebook t’ “Pirate”. It loot a wee while fer me t’ change it back ‘n certainly wasn’t made easier by havin’ all th’ menus ‘n explanations in ‘Pirate’.

Or to put that in English rather than blabberin’ on in Pirate;

Pirates in London

Some years ago I let my younger son, then in his 30s, use my computer while he was staying with us, and afterwards found that he had changed to language on my Facebook to “Pirate”. It took a little while for me to change it back and certainly wasn’t made easier by having all the menus and explanations in ‘Pirate’.

As you may know, though I didn’t afore now, there are several online English to Pirate translators should you ever for any reason (or unreason) wish to convey your thoughts in that medium. England’s fortune was of course largely plundered by pirates including such well-known names as Sir Walter Raleigh, though now instead of galleons our pirates sail in the plush offices of hedge funds often registered in those distant tax havens around which many of the older pirates sailed in search of vessels to board and rob – and in whose sands they may have buried a little of their stolen treasures. Arrhh Jim Lad!

But on Saturday 23 Feb 2008 I was with pirates in London, taking part in the ‘Hands off Iraqi Oil Piratical Action Tour of London’, part of an international campaign in solidarity with the Iraqi people against the corporate theft of Iraq’s oil. The real pirates were of course the largely US oil companies busy profiteering in Iraq following the illegal US and UK invasion of that country.

Saddam was a dictator and committed many crimes, though producing weapons of mass destruction as the invaders claimed largely in contravention of the evidence of their spies, to justify their invasion was not one of them. Far more important but not stated was the fact that as long as he remained dictator, oil would remain a public sector industry in Iraq. So obviously, to further the interests of Shell, BP and other majors in the oil business and capitalism generally he had to be removed.

The pirate-themed protest included a number of protesters in pirate dress along with a samba band to make a great deal of noise and draw attention to the banners, posters and placards calling for corporate killers to get out of Iraq along with a small group with blacked faces in a large black sheet representing Iraqi crude.

The protest marched to the premised of various companies involved in the invasion or seeking to exploit Iraqi oil, stopping at them to speak about their activities and protest noisily. Before I met them some had gone inside the National Portrait Gallery to protest inside against BP sponsorship of their major awards.

The tour visited Erinys International Limited, a private military security company with a reputation for using excessive force which provides security services in Iraq as well as training Iraq’s Oil Protection force, BP whose former CEOs worked as advisors to the Iraqi Oil Ministry telling them let companies like BP come in a make vast profits and helping to draft new Iraqi hydorcarbon laws, and the International Tax and Investment Centre, which is paid by the big oil companies to lobby for a free-market approach which would let them dominate Iraqi oil.

Running late, the tour missed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, whose policies have largely been to run around in support of BP and Shell, employing former oil executives as advisers on economic policy in the Middle East. And Development Program Worldwide Ltd (previously Windrush Communications) has offices too far away in the City for the tour; it promotes the establishment of private capital enterprises in places such as conflict zones where there are few controls over their activities and no effective government to represent the public interest.

The pirates stormed up the Jubilee footbridge, crossing it to reach the Shell Centre for a longer rally to end the tour. Shell executives have played a leading role in the re-purposing of the Iraqi oil industry from a state asset to a multinational profit opportunity and plan for three major oil fields there.

More at Hands off Iraqi Oil Piratical Action Tour.

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