Saturday, March 18, 2006

Global protests "mark" Iraq war anniversary?


I find it interesting that the "global" protests that so indelibly "mark" the 3rd anniversary of Iraqi Freedom have less turn out (and less protests overall) than the Muslim cartoon protests! The media is giving these protests inflated coverage trying their best to imply there is overwhelming global sentiment unfavorable to the US. However, the actual number of protestors who turned out in the countries where the protests have already happened tells a different story. Even in countries with very large Muslim populations the turnout the American hating leaders could muster were pathetic.



Country /Population / Protestors
Pakistan / 162,400,000 / 200
Turkey /70,000,000 / 3,000
UK / 60,000,000 / 15,000
Sweden / 9,000,000 / 1,000
Australia / 20,000,000 / 500
Japan / 128,000,000 / 2,000

Population total of 449,400,000 with 21,700 protesting or 0.0048%

Ok, this is only the first protests in time zones where Saturday came first, but let's not pretend this is anything more than it is. It's also worth remembering the irrational messages these protestors believe in. Bush is the worlds worst terrorist! Death to Americans! And so on... If you want to make a case for reasoned constructive criticism of either our role in Iraq or US imperialism present it!

And at the same time France had, at a minimum, more than 2 times the number of global Iraq war protestors protesting a new labor law. In just two cities alone the total was between 50,000 and 60,000 and they expect nearly 1 million across France will protest this weekend. So lets put the Iraq war protests in perspective!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could you please give us updated calculations? I wish the media would tell it like that, like it really is!

Tiny said...

Hey Wayne,

Well, I could but in the end their numbers are small but maybe the more important points on these protests and protesters is; 1) like you said they aren't focused on the right or all the things they should be, 2) the profile of those protesting represents such a small percentage of the population (unemployed clueless you people, or hippies trying to re-live the 60's) that the media is engaged in a fabrication effort because they like the overall message of anti-Bush and anti-American