On Saturday 7th July, two years after deadly bombings in London and two weeks after bungled bombing at Glasgow airport, people gathered at George Square under the slogan "Scotland United Against Terror". Ten minutes before it's due to start there're fewer people than the large flatbed stage would justify. Folk are milling around but there's a hole in front of the stage, like no-one wants to be there. Opposite, a large satellite truck is parked and cameras are being set up. A politician is being interviewed. I decide not to stick around, I'm unsure if it's worth my time. Of course I'm against terrorism. If I'm against bombs in cars, I'm against bombs from planes, too. The question is, who benefits from my presence here? Coming back through the square 2 hours later, the placards are neatly stacked and the professional politicians have left. Stall tables remain scattered where they set up, including two different Palestine solidarity groups, 10 metres apart but facing different angles. On the grass in the north-east, ten or so sit in a circle facing inwards. They are "sitting in peace for peace" and the world carries on around them. The TV satellite truck has been replaced by a large police CCTV van. It looks like the side could flip up to sell burgers and the camera on top is comically small but it has room for a large bank of screens. As far as I can see it was a wholly content-free exercise, not the place to raise questions of State terrorism. It's a case of being seen to be Doing Something no matter how meaningless. Put a poster of a child in a window, loudly proclaim yourself to be against a concept. Of course, one section of our society has to be seen to be doing something more than the rest of us. No-one demands that Christians condemn wars of aggression, but every nihilist with a grudge is deemed to be the fault of "the" Muslim community. They know this, that's why this demonstration was called. However for me, public demonstrations against terrorism are only valuable when there are real faultlines in a society, or when a real atrocity has occurred. That isn't the feeling I get from everyday life in Glasgow, only from politicians and the media. When there are groups promoting a "clash of civilisations," a demonstration against terrorism that doesn't take account of its state-sponsored flipside risks accentuating the "us and them" mentality. That view leads ultimately to seeing living humans as collateral damage. I'm less worried by terrorism than I am by a country so prone to hysteria over small-scale attempts to bomb that not only failed, but were physically incapable of succeeding. My lasting memory of this event will be the police spy van remaining long after the TV and the professional politicians moved away from Glasgow's Asian community.