In the London Telegraph, Tim Stanley goes all Alinsky upside Sean Penn’s sorry old spicoli:

Sean Penn pretends to be a friend of the developing world, but really he is not. To be fair, his recent call for the Falkland Islands to be returned to Argentina was an admirable strike against capitalist imperialism. Moreover, I and the entire North Korean press corps cheered him on when he flew to Iraq to parley with Saddam Hussein, or when he spoke about Hugo Chavez in such glowing terms. But there have always been hints that his sympathy isn’t really with the workers at all. Aside from that time that he spent 32 days in prison for hitting an extra, his net worth of an estimated $150 million is a bit of a giveaway.

His continued occupation of Malibu is an unacceptable mockery of national self-determination. The Mexicans owned that stretch of real estate well into the early 19th century and it was stolen by the Americans in a naked act of imperialist aggression. America’s claim over Malibu is tenuous and rooted in patriarchy. Sean Penn’s house is a mocking reminder of that brute chauvinism, with its high white walls and spacious interiors. Its swimming pool is an insult to the honour of the Mexican people.

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Now, I know that some will say that the Mexicans never actually lived on Sean Penn’s estate. But how many of them have worked there? Think of the maids, the cleaners, the butlers, the pool boys, the cooks, the gardeners. Think of the sweat that has dripped pouring Martinis, or the blood that was spilt pruning the roses. Truly, Sean Penn’s estate is part of Aztlan.

Heh. Roger Waters’ last album with Pink Floyd was The Final Cut, released in 1983. It was a beautifully recorded but thoroughly depressing affair, built around Water’s petulant rage against Margaret Thatcher for defending the Falklands. Presumably though, were someone to steal Waters’ Ferrari, or squat in his mansion, he’d think nothing of calling the cops, even though the odds are extremely high they’d use violence in recovering Waters’ property and bringing the thieves to justice. Similarly, he’d likely sic his lawyers on a record company executive who attempted to come between he and his royalty checks. (According to some press reports, Waters had no qualms about threatening his fellow bandmates when they reconstituted Pink Floyd without him later in the 1980s.)

Similarly, why shouldn’t England as a nation defend their property?