Working Class Brits Vote 'Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead' #1 Because They Remember

The Brits aren't being cruel or ignorant, nor are they the first to dance in the street after the death of a person they've viewed as an oppressive tyrant. Thousands of folks in Germany, and beyond, danced in the streets when the news of Hitler's death hit, thousands danced when Yassar Arafat died, there were street dances recently in the more 'tony' sections of Venezuela just after Hugo Chavez died, thousands dance in South Florida every time another rumor circulates that Castro is dying, Russians danced when the Czar was killed, and again when...well let's face it, Russians like to drink vodka and dance.

Anyway, these past few days of seeing the Ding Dong song rise on the British charts as opened the space for the working class' side of the globalization debate to re-emerge. Without the space created by the social media campaign in support of the Din Dong song Terry Glavin's article 'An alternative view on Margaret Thatcher' would have faced only the unanimous condemnation of the corporate media not the two sided debate it has engendered. Mainstream media outlets from Vancouver's conservative Sun to America's liberal The Nation are running stories on both sides of Thatcherism, and as Martha Stewart says 'that's a good thing'.

By Friday the online campaign had propelled the "Wizard of Oz" song to No. 1 on British iTunes and into the top five of the music chart used by the BBC to compile its weekly radio countdown., by today - Saturday - the BBC won't comment on it's position. As Terry Glavin says, "Opponents of the late Margaret Thatcher are taking a kind of musical revenge on the former prime minister, pushing the song "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" up the British charts in a posthumous protest over her polarizing policies."

Besides the rising tide of political power being wielded by the Internet generally and social media specifically, this explosion of working class consciousness in Britain also opened a space for connecting this particular issue with something more general. For instance, Canuckistan has seen a slightly different explosion of working class angst this past week through the TFW and outsourcing issues.

Outsourcing, offshoring and TFWs are all offspring of Thatcherism. Just as to some folks outsourcing is the well-spring of wealth creation when to others, like me, it's another obscene robbery of the poor by the rich, some folks see Margaret Thatcher as the 'Iron Lady' that saved our free world's asses and others, like me, see her as a linchpin for the sorry state of our increasing inequitable world.

There's a poll on the Guardian website asking the question: Do you want Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead to top the charts? Over 100.000 have voted in the last few days. Results so far [poll closes on Sunday morning] are 80% YES and 20% NO. Guess witch way mr; mud voted.