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Anti-Americanism Begins to Grow in England
(Diana Muriel, CNN, November 15, 2003)
Mr. Bush has said he doesn't expect everyone in the world to agree with his policies. And many Britons are preparing to make their disagreement very vocal and very visible. Perhaps the most visible element will be a 20-foot effigy that's being built, an effigy of President Bush, which will be taken to Trafalgar Square at the end of the huge rally that's expected to take place in the capital on Thursday. And he'll be ceremoniously toppled over, a sort of rather cynical echo of the pulling down of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. . . . it seems that it is more anti-Bush. But there has been a growing sense -- and this is something that's been talked about in the British press, papers, and on television and radio, about a growing sense of anti-Americanism. That the longer this continues, the more these policies are pursued in places like Iraq, the more Americans themselves become identified with the president's policies, rather than being separated from them. . . . I've been speaking to various expatriates here in London. There are about 200,000 expatriate Americans living in the U.K. They say they've noticed a significant shift since the war in Iraq. They sense they have to defend themselves as much as their country, and, indeed, their president when they discuss politics with ordinary Britons. This hasn't spilled over into any overt hostility. They're not being yelled at in the street ... But they are seeing more anti-American graffiti in and around the capital and other cities ... and they think that will only get worse when the president himself arrives here next Tuesday night. . . . Tony Blair and his relationship with Bush is not particularly healthy in terms of the perceptions of the British electorate. He's perceived by many in Britain, not exclusively, but by many in Britain as being far too close to the president, as being his poodle, if you like. And, in fact, there have been many cartoons in European newspapers, particularly in French newspapers, about Blair being President Bush's poodle.

posted by Lorenzo 7:28 PM