Replies to post #113646 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[villebout]

may i add a few things to that please:

1) your environmental policies (or lack thereof)
2) we don't hate the people, we hate those that governed the people (aka bush and the whole gang) with his unilateral policies...
3) we do find you to be incredibly loud and sometimes rude (no way!!!)
4) their ever increasing faith in religion

just to name a few... the truth is the french (ill talk from a french perspective) "hate" anyone thats not french...theres always been a love/hate relationship with GB, germany, spain or who ever... we make generalizations about everyone (including the americans) just like others do the same to the french... you have to realize also, the french hate people that are not from their region or the their city... thats just the way it is in all of Europe... i do have to say, it is fun to be part of a country that pokes fun of everyone else, because a lot of the time, those jokes are true... just like many of the american generalizations of the french are true... but we do shower, we don't just eat frogs and escargots, yes we do have a military and no we don't all like chirac (just like not everyone likes their own government; US is a good example)...

[harrypothead]

No, the Italians don't hate us. Their print media is a reflection of their intense objection to Bush's foreign policy. To their credit, the Italians have never forgotten the horrors of war, and for that reason they will never support pre-emptive, unprovoked war.

Ironically, the French and Germans were absolutely right to object to the Iraq war based on the reasons given for the strike, ie WMD, mushroom clouds, and mobile bio-weapons factories.

[harrypothead]

ONE MILLION IN ITALY SAY: "NO TO BUSH'S WAR ON IRAQ"
By John Catalinotto

Nov. 13, 2002--A vast sea of humanity surged through the beautiful Italian city of Florence on Nov. 9 to denounce Washington's intention to wage war on Iraq.

The protest was the high point of the Nov. 6-10 European Social Forum, which drew over 30,000 social and anti- globalization activists from all over Europe to discuss pressing social questions and prepare for actions. Other hundreds of thousands, mostly from Italy itself, joined for the Nov. 9 protest.

Organizers said 1 million had demonstrated. The authorities said 500,000. The truth is either figure was much more than the number expected--and enough to swamp Florence, normally a city of 300,000 residents along with many tourists.

Workers World spoke about the demonstration with John Gilbert, a U.S. expatriate and union activist teaching in Florence. Gilbert was one of the General Confederation of Labor's (CGIL) security force of 4,000 volunteers at the demonstration.

"The media had waged a campaign for days warning that demonstrators would destroy the art of the city. Many of the shopkeepers boarded up their shops. The ones that stayed open did lots of business, and nothing was destroyed.

"Our security force was at the end of the march. The last contingent was of CGIL unionists, maybe 120,000 strong. As we marched nothing was left behind but the police," said Gilbert.

The crowds carried demands for social justice and slogans like "Drop Bush, not bombs" and "Bush=Hitler, [Italian Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi=Mussolini," referring to the two World War II fascist leaders.