May 22, 2004

Dads Dust-up in the UK: Fathers 4 Justice

blair_flourbomb_ap.jpegBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair was hit in the back by a projectile as he answered questions in the House of Commons Wednesday. The projectile turned out to be a condom filled with purple-dyed flour. It was thrown from the visitors' gallery, "at least 50 feet with impressive accuracy," by protesters from Fathers 4 Justice, a 2-year old group started by two fathers who lost parental rights in UK family court.

The group has pursued increasingly aggressive and disruptive strategies to publicize what they see as a systemic court bias that diminishes or prohibits fathers' participation in raising their kids. Their tactics have created something of an uproar in the UK, and the cases they publicize (including those of the F4J's members) often have complicating factors like histories of abuse, neglect, or abandonment that critics say should not be ignored.

One goal attributed to their protest stunts is to get their own kids to say, "Wow, that's my dad." But as one thrower's ex explained how embarassed their son was to see his dad arrested, another ex complained, "They don't take anyone else's thoughts into consideration, so how can they expect us to believe they are doing this because they are thinking of their children? They act like boys who get angry and frustrated when they can't get what they want."

2 Comments

I blogged about this group before they did this, particularly about the "Spider-Man" debacle and their lunatic blog, Men's Hour. When I saw they were behind this, I wasn't the least bit shocked. Sad, sad, sad.

The guy who posted the last comment has clearly not been on the end of a divorce with a wife who did the usual self defence mechanism- for years make sure the kids weekend with Dad get's spoilt, and when Dad's new relationship is serious and looks like a "happy family"- take the kids 200 miles away as a response to the "threat" to her "raison d'etre". This is AFTER Dad bought a house to be within 4 miles so the kids had a Dad easily accessible.
F4J?- go for it guys!

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