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 Mark Shapiro at the centre of the US embassy protest 39 years ago
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39 years on, Vietnam vet heads to new war protest
IF you met him for the first time you’d probably think he was just an ordinary middle-aged man. But Mark Shapiro is far from that.
On Monday he flew to Stockholm from his Holborn home to gate-crash the July 4th party held by US embassy staff, as a protest against both the Vietnam war and today’s Iraq conflict.
Mark was a deserter who fled from Vietnam in the late 60s and settled in Sweden for a short time along with 500 fellow US soldiers.
Then on July 4th, 1968 Mark, joined by six other deserters, held a sit-down protest on the US embassy lawn against the Vietnam war.
Mayhem followed when security heavies attacked the protesters and dumped them into a police van. A night in the local nick followed.
Now, 39 years later, Mark was determined to give the embassy another headache.
But over the phone from Stockholm on Wednesday, he told me he never made it past the front gate of the ambassador’s garden where the party was being held. Stopped for not having an invitation, he said he wanted to stage a “peaceful protest”. That set things humming. Two men held him, later joined by six others. It was goodbye to his protest.
But Mark isn’t down-hearted. Afterwards, he joined several hundred Swedes in an anti-war protest in the city.
What made him do it?
“Vietnam was a great tragedy and is one for a new generation of Americans involved in the Iraq war,” he said.
“My protest is in the memory of the three million Vietnamese killed and the 650,000 Iraqis and the 3,500 US soldiers killed in Iraq.”
As I said, Mark isn’t an ordinary fellow.
July 7 attack memories
THESE eerie traffic-free scenes will not be far from readers’ minds this weekend – the second anniversary of the London bombings.
The terrorist attacks July 7 2005 claimed 52 dead and injured 700.
Transport links were shut down and dazed and confused commuters and businessmen amid wailing sirens filed to work.
These pictures came from Houston, Texas, where Ian Wilder is recovering from treatment for cancer.
The West End ward councillor hopes to be back in the country soon and Diary wishes him well.
Comic takes a stand against smoking ban
A FORMER gravedigger is doing the rounds in Soho inviting friends to join him for a legal smoke.
Comedian Liam Mullone, who writes obituaries for the Times newspaper, is taking a stand against the latest “draconian measures adopted by the sanctimonious nanny state”.
He has hired a hearse from “some Goths” and is cruising around the West End picking up friends he has met on MySpace.
Disgruntled smokers, forced into the rain during one of the wettest summers since the Great Flood, can now take shelter in the hearse.
Mr Mullone, who is gearing up for a three-week comedy-run at the Pleasance Theatre, Islington, revealed: “I’m doing this to make a last stand against the extremists and safety fascists who are sucking the soul out of Britain.”
Criminal music for lawyers
LEGAL sources tell Diary that the annual Lawyer Awards went down like a lead balloon in the Grosvenor House Hotel last week.
Award-winners taking to the stage were a little taken aback by the booming renditions of 1980s hits including Wham, Madonna and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Laurie Rabinowitz QC was crowned Barrister of the Year to the accompaniment of Yazz and The Plastic Population’s The Only Way is Up. James Ellington of Mayfair’s Standard Chartered Bank refused to accept In-House Banking Team of the Year accompanied by Madonna’s Like A Virgin.
And Partner of the Year Paul Maher, of Maher Brown Rowe & Maw, responded to being greeted by Frankie Goes to Hollywood by raising a certain finger to the sound system.
Why George was top brass
I RAN into the late, great George Melly just a couple of months ago when he floated into Ray’s Jazz Shop for the launch of trumpeter John Chilton’s memoirs.
He had come to sing a couple of numbers with John and clarinettist Wally Fawkes, and after manoeuvring himself into a seat, glaring at the crowd for a moment as if to say why the hell are you clapping, I haven’t started yet, he ordered a member of the audience to rustle up a large whiskey and then launched into a diatribe of life on the road with John.
His performance was superb, his timing brilliant, and his banter hilarious. I managed to wriggle up close to him for a chat, and my opening line was how was he getting on?
He said, under his breath, that he was well thank you very much, although slightly perturbed by the fact his trumpeter was writing his memoirs.
He said: “I’m thoroughly p****d off that I should employ a trumpeter old enough to have f*****g memoirs to write about. I like them young, like me.” |
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