It ain’t over until that lady of a certain shape sings so they say. For the people involved in the campaign to stop asylum seekers from being housed at Stradey Park Hotel and those who wanted it to go ahead it may be.
The plight of the asylum seekers will continue as wars rage across the world outside of Llanelli and the Home Office will persist in trying to find suitable accommodation in towns across the UK. No doubt the flying pickets of hate will now focus their attention elsewhere claiming a badge of honour for their deeds which in part may have contributed to the story. The locals will reap the rewards or the consequences of their actions.
I am sure some will be dancing on the streets of thlanethlee tonight or more specifically those surrounding the hotel where the circus has been camped. The really bad comedians will be sharing those Lives and who knows the clowns could be leading the mass conga right through the town. The flags of selected nations may disappear to be placed at some other unfortunate venue where the circus will begin again and the innocent get sucked in to hero worshiping the black shirts and oh that pretty line of flags which cry out for a swastika to make it complete.
The County Council have expressed the need for people to come together as have the local politicians. The hotel may have suffered damage and it may be sometime before it is returned to its former glory if and it is a big if, the owners decide to do that or to sell up. They could decide to stick two fingers up and do nothing and some might say, who can blame them.
Llanelli has a large population and it has been a Labour town since the turn of the 19th century. Plaid Cymru were chased out of the town at the Senedd elections and Westminster elections of late. The Conservatives even saw a slight resurgence. No doubt the tin foilers, the national nationalists and the haters will be calling for the heads of those Labour politicians who got in on a large majority. Are we to believe that the Stradey park Hotel issue will see the demise of Labour in Llanelli? I very much doubt it but that is the claim of many involved in the protest.
The media don’t escape the bile and fantasy of the haters. If they are to be believed the press run a biased one sided agenda against anyone who sets foot on the pavements outside the hotel. Scumbags, corrupt, biased, lazy, you name it the pot has called the media kettle everything. Are people so ignorant as to how the news and the world works? The media shone a spotlight on the hotel from day 1 and has continued to do so at every turn. The pressure on the government came from many angles but the media rightly and justly refused to take any side or be drawn in to the gutter. For those who attempted to visit the hotel they will be well aware of the way in which the hate squad intimidated and bullied them away.
For those who followed it from day one they will be aware of the way in which locals began in a peaceful protest and politicians, yes politicians expressed their concerns and knocked on doors. It turned ugly quickly and politicians and the media were labelled with the same hateful words usually reserved by the purveyors of hate for those who flee their countries for reasons familiar to anyone who keeps up to date with international affairs.
A win is a win however you dress it up. Perhaps those who did and said nothing will nod in approval. There will be others who will see it as a loss. A failure to break down barriers. A failure to debate and to consider and a failure to show compassion. The mud slinging, the anger and hate is a microcosm for what we see across the World. The images of destruction in Palestine are too much to digest without feeling ill. The divide between two peoples, years of hatred, years of death and destruction. Today about 5.6 million Palestinian refugees – mainly descendants of those who fled in 1948 – live in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza. About half of registered refugees remain stateless, according to the Palestinian foreign ministry, many living in crowded camps.
Palestinians have long demanded that refugees should be allowed to return, along with millions of their descendants. Israel says any resettlement of Palestinian refugees must occur outside of its borders. Who’s right and who’s wrong? Is that what it comes down to in the end?
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