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Michael
Moore has made his name as the great satirist, documentary filmmaker
and author behind the likes of 'TV Nation', 'Roger and Me' 'Bowling
for Columbine and 'Stupid White Men.' This latest lecture/Q&A
to promote his book 'Dude, Where's My Country?' felt less like a
booksigning opportunity, and more like an anti-war rally.
The
event began with a short delay, as the Police had to be called to
remove two people from the lobby who refused to leave. We knew then
that this was worth sticking around for.
Michael
soon appeared sporting his usual garb - baggy t-shirt, jeans, baseball
cap, and seemed relaxed before the Scouse audience. He began with
a hilarious description of his induction into British soccer. With
various four letter words, he related his shock at discovering that
being in the audience of an Arsenal game was like being at a Broadway
play; throngs of people, bursting spontaneously into song in perfect
harmony! Clearly experiencing a culture shock, he proclaimed his
amazement that we Brits had allowed a well known record store to
run our railways.
But
all of this was just a warm-up for the sort of anti-war solidarity
that Moore has witnessed throughout his 39 city tour of the US.
And after a brief foray into some Prince Charles comedy, he was
soon charged up, calling the War in Iraq an "illicit, illegal
and immoral" affair.
He
asked us, "What is Blair doing with Bush? I mean Bush has an
excuse, he's an idiot, and could have been tricked into this, but
Blair is a smart guy. What has he been promised? A job as a ranch-hand
when it's all over?"
In
his words, "Blair gave Bush legitimacy. Maybe Blair believes
in his heart that this is the right thing to do..but by revealing
his heart, he has revealed that he's not fit to be Prime Minister."
He
went on, "information is kept from us in the USA. 85% of us
can't find Iraq on the map! How can you bomb a country you can't
find on the map? Shouldn't that be rule no.1? We have one daily
newspaper, the media conglomerates own our TV networks, we have
one enforced opinion for the masses, and our educational system
is bad. So what's your excuse? Why are you going along with this?"
Powerful
stuff indeed. Moore's insistence that we protest against George
W. Bush's imminent visit to London added further fuel to an already
fiery audience who took every opportunity to argue with eachother
from the rafters.
In
the most poignant section of the show, Moore told us that "the
soliders are opposed to this war." He described how it is the
poor, disadvantaged kids who sign up to defend the countries that
have rigged the game against them. "They protect a system that
has kept them down" he said "and in return we promise
not to put them in harms way unless truly and absolutely necessary.
We've abused this so that people like Dick Cheney (whose company
Haliburton has all the billion dollar contracts for rebuilding oil
infrastructure in Iraq) can get richer. Our kids are sacrificing
their lives so that they can become rich, and that's the absolute
truth."
The
rant continued: "will they slay one mid-level executive every
time a kid is killed out there?"
Moore
then took several minutes to read the names of ALL the 53 British
soldiers killed since the start of the war. After each name, he
punctuated the sentence with the word "dead."
He
then offered apologies for what he described as their senseless
deaths and observed a short silence.
In
a loud and stern conclusion, he said "The US and the UK need
to end this war, go back to the UN and apologise and ask them to
take over rebuilding Iraq. That's what they need to do." He
was greeted with unanimous applause.
Reading
only one snappy line from his new book, it was evident that Michael
Moore's passion for these issues is not necessarily motivated by
book sales.
Before
the audience erupted into their own bizarre debates about the FBI,
the Irish famine, and so called 'working-class traitors', Moore
offered one last pearl of wisdom:
"Things
are turning. Millions of people are getting the real information
from my website and papers like The Guardian. How about Oprah for
President? She could do her show live from the Oval Office! Or how
about Tom Hanks, i mean you'd feel dirty NOT voting for him! Sure,
Tom Hanks, why not!"
Michael
Moore's book 'Dude, Where's My Country?' is out now.
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