Professional foot soldiersProfessional foot soldiers
Life can be bitter. Did you ever notice how easily the amateur can eclipse the good standing of an industrious professional like myself?
There I was, gnawing on my muesli (I find it does the gums no end of good while the dentures are out having a spa) last Saturday morn. With my cuppa on hand and the local daily before me, the passionate jottings of an irascible scribe caught my eye.
I'm no stranger to controversy. In that regard, I've paid my dues and have subscribed to many good old causes. But I felt the article in question was compiled without regard to expense or the feelings of the general public. It was, quite simply, a harrowing example of all that is pseudo, malevolent and calloused in the world of print.
Forgive me if I don't name names. It is enough that the editor of the journal has been informed via correspondence.
I raise this matter again with a mind to setting before you my own superior credentials in this regard.
Man and boy I've been a foot soldier for social change. Born Paris 1789. Widely troubled by the world. Congenital stirrer with a penchant for political tracts. Took part in the 1917 insurrection. Member of Sinn Féin, the PRT, CPA, FSLN, CPI (Marxist-Leninist), DSP and the New Left Party (June 6-15, 1992). Minister for justice and later president of the Australasian Socialist Republic, 2008. Regius Professor of Dialectics, QUT. Two centuries old and still going strong.
I am a proudly professional agitator and a loyal member of that boisterous troupe of travelling stayers fondly known as rent-a-crowd.
Two! Four! Six! Eight! We just love the right to demonstrate!
(Oh, how I cherish that dear old gang of mine ...)
Wherever two of my comrades are gathered together to raise their voices in mutual protest, there I shall be. We yell and scream, raise merry hell, march up and down a bit — then, impassioned by our goodly deeds, we go home and watch the replay on the telly.
That night, I'm sure, the world retires a better place.
An industrious professional such as myself is understandably serious about such labours. I like my day out to be big and sassy. No excuses. No mucking about. We foot soldiers for social change are connoisseurs of — what we call — militant, non-violent direct action.
That's the way we like it. And anyone who says different is (please excuse my bluntness) simply full of bull.
Dave Riley
Email: dhell@ozemail.com.au