Gaddafi squat KFC frenzy

Hours after my post yesterday about the occupation of the Libyan emabassy in 1986, a group called Topple The Tyrants squatted Gaddafi’s son Saif’s £10 million mansion in Hampstead.

Far be it for a humble man like myself to suggest that there is any connection between these two events…

History is Made at Night came good with some more info on the eighties occupation, as well as a worrying look at Gaddafi’s support amongst some elements of the euro-anarcho scene in the early nineties.

Comrade Sufi over at Dissensus brought me up to date with the Gaddafi Kentucky Fried Chicken meme:

Mubarak KFC

This image emerged from the Egyptian uprising. There is a branch of KFC in Tahir Square.

Desperate Egyptian dictator Mubarak accused the protestors of all being pro-american lackeys who ate KFC etc. This lie was then replicated in the state media with reports that protestors were being paid $100 US and given free KFC meals. (This has echoes of various left wing protestors in the UK, from miners’ strike supporters to anti-capitalists at May Day being accused in the tabloids of being paid…)

The protestors then took the piss out of Mubarak with the above image.

In fact the KFC in Tahir Square was closed after the Jan 25th protests. A makeshift medical clinic was set up in front of it for the duration.

The protestors also defaced said KFC thusly:

Apparently this text reads “No to Mubarak the U.S. Client.” (Another image, slightly clearer is here).

The anti-dictator/KFC image now seems to have gone viral, which brings us right back to Gaddafi:

Gaddafi KFC

Now far be it for me to suggest that eighties Hackney squat punks God Told Me To Do It had any inflence on this…