The Furious Spinner

I received a letter yesterday from Jason who lives in Denmark. I found his "day in the life" of a visit from Colin Powell to his country chilling. Although we all know this kind of thing happens when the president and his cabinet visit our cities, I was distressed that it happens in other countries, too. Is it any wonder the rest of the world sees us as one big importer of the war machine? Jason describes himself as "a Brit and struggling writer living in Denmark." I thank him for his letter and permission to publish it here. After going back and forth about it, I left the letter whole—even the nice parts about me. I kept them in because I think the letter is best read as a whole, as Jason's reaction to my piece and the state of the world. It is an example of how we can affect each other. P.S. At about the same time as I received Jason's letter, I got another one from a man who says my writing "tortures" him. So there you go.

Dear Kim.

I read your post on Common Dreams today ('Brave New World'), which I found very honest and moving. I thought I'd share the following with you.

Today, here in Denmark, Colin Powell came to visit. My first inkling of this was when I was sitting in the garden in the morning sun, drinking my coffee and slogging through (appropriately enough) War and Peace. Helicopters began noisily circling in the skies above and sirens wailed in the streets around.

We live in a quiet suburbanish area and there are never any helicopters.

I had known that he was coming because I'd had an email the night before from the 'No war against Iraq' group, urging me to join the demonstation outside Parliament during Powell's visit.

My second inkling came about an hour later when I went jogging down by the beach. It was quite a hot day today and the man standing suspiciously in the long overcoat on the corner didn't exactly look Danish. He gave me a good look over as I ran towards him. This was the route that the entourage would be taking.

It being my 33rd birthday, my wife and I decided to head into the city for lunch, taking our 11 month old daughter, Jasmine, with us. Once the two of them got back from nursery we jumped on a bus and headed into town. On the periphery of the centre of town (Copenhagen is not all that big, I don't know if you've ever been) the bus joined a traffic jam (itself a remarkable occurrence in this clockwork city where half of all journeys are made by bicycle). Eventually, after some minutes, a conductor got on and said the bus was going no further due to a suddenly imposed exclusion zone that had been set up to 'protect' the American secretary of state. So we were all turfed off the bus, old and young alike. Tough.

By now, near the parliament building which Powell was inside, the skies were buzzing with helicopters. We decided to walk the rest of the way into town.

Police were everywhere. As we walked over the bridge into the centre a speedboat packed with soldiers sped past, guns at the ready. Normally it's just sightseeing boats. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think I've seen a drawn gun on display before in this country. Barricades and flashing lights were all over the place and I heard a man angrily complaining about the lack of consideration of the security 'apparatus'.

We passed the area where the peace demo should have been but the only thing we saw were a couple of weary-looking demonstrators with peace flage surrounded by a ring of aggressive 'pumped' looking police. If anyone had wanted to spontaneously 'join in' God only knows how they would have been able to. A woman with a papier mache Statue of Liberty (with a globe under one arm and holding a fistful of dollars aloft) made her point from the periphery while a Swedish film crew aimed their cameras at her.

Despite the sunny weather and the fact that we, as a family, were going for a lunch buffet, I felt an alarming sense of gloom. I could see it in the faces of the Danes (who, broadly speaking, supported the war) at this sudden militant invasion of their peaceful capital. The question on peoples faces seemed to be 'Is this what being allied with America involves?'. Pathetic, I know, compared with what people in, say, Baghdad must be putting up with. Nevertheless, people looked concerned and thoughtful.

[As an aside - the rightwing Prime Minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, defends the country's involvement in Iraq not on grounds of WMD or 'imminent threats' or any such nonsense (which people wouldn't have bought anyway) but that Denmark owes America a favour for defeating Germany (who occupied the country) in WWII. Honest, but if you think like me, appalling.]

Despite being an 'aware' environmentalist and someone who marched against this unjust war, this sudden intrusion by Colin Powell (who is here, no doubt, to implore the Danes not to withdraw troops) was a timely reminder to myself and others that an ugly, scary reality exists beyond the pleasant shores of this quiet country. It's hard to imagine how Powell's 'security ring' could have inconvenienced the citizens of Copenhagen more.

Anyway, we made our way the the narrow streets of the Latin quarter and sat eating from a vegetarian buffet in the watery afternoon sunlight. Cars, pushed into the sidestreets by the security ring, jostled past us and I wondered what kind of world my daughter will inherit if this madness continues.

I have to be frank here (although I'm sure you will sympathise). The image of American government here in Europe is one of calculated violence, cynical manipulation and pandering to special interests. Many people are very afraid of this and would rather look the other way and pretend that everything will work itself out. So it gave me a much needed boost of hope today when I read some of your writings. Thank you. It does a great deal of good to write such as you do. A lot of
people in Europe want to believe that the liberal side of America is still alive and kicking, but the mainstream news often only portrays the 'triumphs' of George Bush. As you know, mainstream media is not something that can be trusted anymore (I was weaned on the BBC, but have regretfully come to the conclusion that they are only marginally better than most others, so am currently weaning myself off it). After all, if I've taken the trouble writing to you, imagine all the people who were inspired but didn't bother writing anything.

Anyway, I love the idea of a peace garden. I'm doing my best to create a 'wildlife' garden, which is much the same thing. Yesterday I planted a small apple tree that I grew from a pip. I'll name it Kim.

Now if only those helicopters would stop circling maybe I can really get some peace tomorrow.

Peace and respect.

Jason

All photographs and written material copyright © 2003-2008 by Kim Antieau unless otherwise indicated. May not be used without permission.