Propaganda all is phoney

I was shocked by an item on ITV’s News at Ten last night reporting on an address by Tony Blair to a group of hand-picked card-carrying Labour supporters on UK politics. Iraq went deliberately unmentioned in his speech, but Iain Wilson, a student who had “infiltrated himself into the audience” with a borrowed membership card, started to harangue Blair about the Iraq issue – only to be physically manhandled out of the room. At the end of the address the supporters gave Blair a standing ovation. Congratulations to Wilson for having the guts to do it, and shame on those yes-men who swallowed Blair’s propaganda.

The Independent ran a story about this on its front page today, with a photo inside of Wilson being “removed” by Tony’s henchmen. Robert Fisk also refers to the incident with approval today in his excellent piece “The wartime deceptions“.