It is great that we have the protests organised for Saturday, and it will be greater still if they achieve the desired result. However, I don't think that anyone honestly believes that the regime will capitulate over night and that the struggle to rid our club of the the invisible assassin and his grinning goon will take rather longer. There's also a three week gap until the following home game and I wouldn't want the campaign to lose any momentum. So, we need something to fill the gap between Saturday and the next home game and something to take the campaign a little further into the future. Here are three ideas:
1. Contact The Belgian EmbassyIf every disgruntled Charlton fan were to write to the Belgian embassy it may give a lever to get some publicity in the Belgian press and cause Duchatelet some embarrassment (if these were well co-ordinated and we copied emails to the Beligian media). I do not expect that the Embassy would do anything to help our cause, at least directly, but contacting them may raise the profile of our campaign in Belgium. We'd need to ensure that messages were positive, respectful and could in no way be construed as insulting to Belgium or the Belgian people. They should stress a desire for cooperation and good relations, whilst highlighting that the actions of certain prominent Belgian people run counter to this spirit and are damaging to Charlton Athletic which is an important British cultural icon.
The address is on the Embassy website. As well as emailing we could perhaps go a little further and organise a day where we leafleted any staff/visitors going into the Embassy. There are also eight 'Honorary Consulates' in Belfast, Edinburgh, Gibraltar, Jersey, Kinston-upon-Hull, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton. If we have any fans living near these we could leaflet them as well.
2. Contact the Anglo-Belgian Society The stated objective of this organisation is, '
...to promote cultural and social relations between the two peoples...'. As with the embassy, I'd think we can legitimately contact them
via the address on their website, making the case that the actions of certain prominent Belgians, risk damaging the cultural and social relations that they seek to promote.
3. Belgian National DayIt's a long way off, yet. But the national day of Belgium is on 21st of July. It may provide a useful close-season focus for us to do something, especially if there are any events planned in London. Failing that, we could all just down some Chimay to drown our sorrows ;-)
Comments
Below are the Twitter handles of some of the Belgian networks I could find. Not sure how we could engage them though
@2BE
@ActuaTV
@canvastv
@een
@Roularta
@MEDIALAAN
@RTBF
@VRT
Would certainly look strange, and be completely different to what has been seen before.
Sure it may be ignored but if as some people believe KM & possibly RM are keeping the reality of PV interest from RD to protect personal pride and career interests then it might at the very least get him to take more serious notice of what is going on here and the potential offer on the table.
Funny, just as I typed this, I crossed the border into Belgium!
http://www.blcc.co.uk/pages/businessnetwork.html
Maybe this would come in handy.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pyle-Pro-PMP50-50W-Megaphone-Siren/dp/B002PB23SO/ref=sr_1_3?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1451574972&sr=1-3&keywords=megaphones
Dear Mr L,
Thank you for your email, including links to Friday’s article from The Guardian and blog from a Charlton fan.
Ambassador Trouveroy has taken note of how the supporters of Charlton Athletic feel towards the club’s Belgian owner and CEO. Although it concerns a private enterprise, the ambassador will certainly raise the concerns and frustrations you and the fans of the football club have if he gets the opportunity to meet Mr Duchâtelet or Miss Meire.
Despite its present poor performance, the ambassador hopes that the club will manage to remain within The Championship and head towards a more positive future.
Kind regards,
--- -------
Ambassador's Personal Assistant
Embassy of Belgium
BTw, i've invited you onto another intiative thread if you check your inbox.
Anyway.....that was quite an 'innocent' act of defiance. It delayed the game a bit but not much. But got quite a lot of attention if I remember rightly. Maybe those that are still attending games could do that?