Analysis of the March for the Alternative

It’s been just over a week since 200-500 thousand people marched across London. What kind of response have we had, and why? Are these even accurate or viable views to be held in light of what happened?

Media response to the march

From what I’ve seen the general response to it was ‘the march was ok – but look at these broken windows and be horrified’. I personally spoke to Julia Hartley-Brewer, a presenter from LBC 97.3 on Monday, when she was asking about what anarchism means, etc. I’m probably the worst person to ask this kind of thing – I’m not an anarchist and although I know people who are, I don’t really believe myself to be in such a position as to explain their motives to somebody. For the record, I don’t think I can speak for a whole range of people. So I clarified I wasn’t an anarchist; that I merely ended up with the black bloc by accident at the protest – which is true – and then gave my explanation to all of these issues and arguments which is: Ultimately, we are all individuals and are responsible for our own actions – it shouldn’t worry us what Joe Bloggs next door is doing. Whether we choose to do things in groups or not – you can’t legimately say that because they were in the same place at the same time that they automatically must believe in the same things. And in fact this is one of the problems with the black bloc – anyone can turn up dressed in black. Perhaps on Saturday there were people who turned up who weren’t anarchists at all. We don’t know, and it’s something that can’t be controlled.

Another question was – and in hindsight, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever – “You were there – why didn’t you try and stop them? Why didn’t you shout at them to stop throwing things?” – I’m not even sure I answered it because I was totally stunned. I’m 22; a young woman with no weapons, no scarf to protect my identity, and no authority. Firstly, why would I want to tell them to stop? I don’t care what other people do at the protests because as far as I’ve seen it has very little impact on me – and until I see the black bloc actually hitting peaceful protesters then I will continue to think so. The impression people get is that at protests people just start fights and that’s absolutely not the case – the only reason people get hurt is if there is a fight between individuals, or when the police get involved and inflame the situation. Secondly, why should I tell them to stop? I’m not the only person witnessing this. There are dozens of photographers, reporters and other members of the public milling around, who are far bigger, older, and stronger than I am. It is telling that not a single person shouted at them to stop or attempted to intervene, out of a watchful crowd of a hundred. The police didn’t even turn up until it was too late, moving in to protect HSBC when protesters had already started moving on.

I wasn’t really allowed to finish what I was saying, and I kind of understand why. Firstly, they ran out of time and needed to go to the adverts. And secondly, I don’t think anyone listening to LBC actually wants to know about what really went on, from the view of someone who was ‘involved’ (in quotes, as I wasn’t actually involved in any vandalism that day, but happened to be in the area). Their audience doesn’t much care for the ins and outs of anarchism either – not that I was the right person to explain it. Julia was asking for anarchists to ring in and explain what they wanted – but similarly, what anarchist would listen to LBC?! I wouldn’t have thought many true anarchists do. Moreover, who would be willing to bother wasting their time trying to explain themselves – the listeners have already made their minds up; the presenters have made their minds up, and a cut-off explanation of things isn’t going to change anyone’s mind. So I feel a little disappointed (in terms of feeling that I wasn’t really given that much of a chance) but I completely understand why and frankly I don’t blame them. The listeners need someone to shout at on the radio; someone who challenges their long-held beliefs and makes them grumble about ‘the bloody state of this country’ or whatever. And that person was me last Monday. I get it – I understand how the media panders to their audience and treats people who disagree with the same contempt that their audience would, if at all. I don’t hold any grudges either.

The main frustration with the media narrative of good protester/bad protester is that it is so prevalent, and the left can’t even begin to counteract that when pretty much all of the mainstream media is right-wing or right-leaning. How can we get our message out there that the black bloc isn’t mindlessly destructive? That police were the ones hitting protesters with little or no reason, and not holding back? Even a brilliant eyewitness piece in the Independent was derided as fiction by readers.

Police tactics and attitude

Like I said in my write-up of 26th March, there was pretty much one occasion where I thought the way the police (attempted to) handle the situation was laudable. That was outside Fortnum and Mason. The officers there didn’t push back, didn’t hit anyone and only spoke loudly to tell people to move back. Of course, they were too weak to hold it against the crowd that was pushing back – but the point is they didn’t do anything unnecessary. At other times during the day – and the worst example I can think of this is at Trafalgar Square – police acted in an antagonistic way towards protesters, pushing them back and kettling them when there was nothing going on. This kind of treatment is highly inflammatory – is it any wonder that those who were having a nice evening with their friends, stood by a fire, or dancing to music took exception to being moved out of the area in such an aggressive way?

Basically, the police need to stick to one tactic and run with it the entire day. My suggestion would be more hands-off like they were at Fortnum and Mason, ie watch the situation as it unfolds and go in if and when necessary. If they do need to go in and people are getting upset, explain to them exactly why they are being contained. Don’t use words like ‘sterile area’ because that’s nonsense and we all know it. The problem with protests is that everybody gets caught up in the moment – the kid who threw the fire extinguisher, I would propose, would never in a million years just pick up a fire extinguisher and throw it off a roof for kicks. Not saying he was encouraged to, but that people in crowds do immensely irrational things. And the same is true of the police – if only the Met would stop kidding themselves that every single police officer acts in a professional way. It’s understandable. We’re all human. We all get carried away. But in the same way the police, and the public at large, want protesters to condemn each other’s tactics (which I refuse to do), the police should actually condemn some of their colleagues for acting the way they did. Does this seem like a reasonable response to you? Of course protesters get carried away but the differences are: a) protesters are (usually!) not paid to be at protests; they go because they believe in a cause, rightly or wrongly; b) police have a duty to be professional at all times when working with the public – and ‘hitting people with batons’ doesn’t fit into my definition of professionalism; c) police are supposed to neutralise situations, not inflame them by intimidating people.

Regarding condemning of those involved in vandalism, I don’t think infighting is the answer, and I don’t think violence is the answer either. But I do honestly think that if the cuts are going to be affecting people as badly as it is believed they are, then broken windows will not be enough to put them off protesting. When people are pushed too much; when they have nothing left to lose, they will start protesting.

In the aftermath of the TUC march we need to be open and honest with each other – not judgemental; not condeming… For what’s done is done. What we need to do is move on from this and learn some lessons. We could probably start with understanding of what solidarity is, and adopt St Paul principles, or some form of. We can start with the third: “Any debates or criticisms will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events.”

As the great saying goes: “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”

Parallels and Perspective

We’re not even a month into the new year, and already we have seen some inspiring action across the world. In Tunisia, the people protested against their government. In Egypt, protests are still going on (for up-to-date news, watch English Al Jazeera, they have been fantastic in covering it) against Mubarak’s rule. As I type, a Vice President has just been sworn in. Protests in London and across the UK have also started up again, now everyone has recovered from the laziness of Christmas and gotten back into the swing of things. In some cases these protests in the UK have led to clear police brutality (video from Leeds).

Iconic photo of a middle aged woman kissing a policeman - in Egypt this week. Copyright: Lefteris Pitarakis / AP.From MSN's Egypt photoblog

What is interesting is that in all of this we have faced constant snide remarks of “Well, in the US this happens all the time!” “It’s not as bad as in Egypt. You should be grateful you have freedom of speech to say that!” and so on.

I appreciate that comparisons can be helpful. For example, we should be emboldened by those in Tunisia and in Egypt. We should think ourselves lucky that we do not face what they face on a daily basis; that by and large we live in a more democratic country. And we should take heart from their uprising. It’s hope for our own. However, comparisons of “What are we grumbling about? They have it so much worse” are extremely unhelpful and patronising.

The implicit message in that is that we don’t know how good we have it; by being angry at things that are not life-threatening or ‘as bad as’ elsewhere that apparently means we are ignorant and this somehow detracts of diminishes the underlying message of the fight for freedom elsewhere. Which of course, is untrue. I don’t think for one second that people who protested in London today are unaware of the Egyptian peoples’ struggles. The protest evem made its way to the Egyptian Embassy – whether you agree with that or not – and this shows a sense that UK protestors see themselves as belonging to a wider community of protestors. So by no means ignorant of problems elsewhere. In fact, they are now aware, more than ever, that we live in a ‘global village’.

The way I see it, arguments of “why are you protesting when other people have it worse?” are – to go off point for a second – exactly the same arguments used against people who suffer from depression. “Why are you so unhappy, you have legs and arms!” (as someone who suffers from depression, I know this argument all too well!)
I think it’s important to not assess protests, or political unrest, or angry citizens in terms of justifying and comparing to other countries. What is important is that we all feel angry – whether we are in Egypt, Tunisia, elsewhere (I know other countries are going through similar phases) or in the UK. Whether we are being dragged from homes and murdered by the state, or whether our local library is being closed down – we all feel betrayed by our government. It doesn’t matter why, it doesn’t matter that people elsewhere ‘have it worse’ – NEVER let anyone tell you that you don’t have a right to feel angry, or betrayed, or upset! You have a right to be angry at anything you please, if it affects your life and you don’t like it.

What’s more, I’m finding myself enraged by Americans who keep somehow coming up on my radar and chiming in with “Call that police brutality?! Look at THIS!” – it’s not a competition to see who treats their citizens worse. In America, police taser people, but this doesn’t mean that it’s ok for protestors to be hit with batons at protests in the UK. I don’t want the police in my country to start using tasers. I don’t want for us to slip into that without a fight, or to turn round in ten years when they do use taser guns on protestors, and say “I didn’t see this coming! Why didn’t anyone say anything?!”

So yes, comparison gives us perspective in a world where things get blown out of proportion all too often and easily. But it also makes us less inclined to progress; to develop ourselves further. What good does it do us to look at people who are worse off, and feel bad that we are angry about things which, in the grand scheme of things, are not as bad? We need to feel angry. We need to progress. We need for things to change. And perspective-givers only hinder this by making us feel like whatever we want to fight for is not legitimate. I say, if you feel it, then it is.

Occupied: A Day at the UCL Occupation

RIP Education banner outside the Jeremy Bentham Room

I decided to visit the UCL Occupation during my stay in London. Twitter has been afire with news of this group of students who have occupied the Jeremy Bentham Room in University College London. Observers were amazed and impressed by the way they had conducted themselves during their 2-week stay, and I wanted to see for myself.

I head to Goodge Street to meet someone I had spoken to on Twitter just hours before. For the sake of anonymity, I’ll call him A. He’s a student at a college round the corner from UCL and he’s wanted to go since he heard about the occupation starting, but never got the chance.

There are 20-30 people in the occupation, all busy making banners, listening to speeches, blogging, tweeting and facebooking. There’s a group of dedicated ‘tech’ people, the ‘social media’ table… Research. Video Editing. Press. Every department you would expect to see in a big company is here – each with a designated table and a small team to work on it. I ask several people, ‘Who organised the occupation?’ and unanimously and without hesitance, the response is that they all did.

Just outside the Jeremy Bentham Room, is a shrine – ‘RIP Education’. Across the walls along the corridors, and all over the room, messages and images of inspiration and encouragement are pinned up. There’s a huge legal advice banner at the front with lawyers’ contact details. A huge projector screen is at the front – it’s connected to a computer in the ‘tech’ centre, and shows the latest tweets to the UCL Occupation account. A National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts banner proudly sits below the projector screen – there is no sign of any support for the National Union of Students here, not since President Aaron Porter promised help to the occupiers and then refused to deliver.

Graffiti scrawled on a wall in the UCL campus

Someone has invited esteemed Independent journalist Johann Hari to give a talk to students. Johann talks about several ‘mission impossibles’ that ordinary people have overcome through the power of protesting. At the first Gay Pride, people were arrested – now look at how it has grown. These are inspiring, says Johann, and students should not feel despondant about the massive challenge ahead.

Immediately after Johann’s speech, someone stands up: “We need some people to go to Camden School for Girls now. They’ve had the police called on them and they’re very worried.” They have organised a 24 hour sit-in and have been threatened with police action. A few minutes later, a group of us leave to go there. There’s more running involved in this than I would like. We arrive to find a crowd of students outside, and security blocking the gate into the school.

Tasha, a 16 year old student at the school, tells me about what inspired the sixth-formers to occupy it for 24 hours: “A lot of us have been to the UCL Occupation quite a lot and we saw how great it was, how co-ordinated it was and we know loads of people there and it was just an inspiration.” After hanging around for about an hour, with UCL Occupation students offering support, they realise there is nothing they can do and their presence may even be undermining the sit-in. We leave the school, and the girls are told that if they come into any trouble to ring again for support.

Two hours later, at about ten to five, a group from the occupation gather together to go to Euston Station for a ‘flash mob’. We’re not quite sure what we are supposed to be doing at this one – famous flash mobs include hundreds of people singing Hey Jude in Trafalgar Square or the freeze-mob at Grand Central.

Protestors with a banner at Euston Station

We stop just outside Euston Station for a quick briefing: “The place is swarming with police. We can’t go in as one group, so pick a group, stay with them and don’t look like you recognise anyone else.” We split off. I’m with A, and we find ourselves in a group with another journalist, and go inside the station. Police officers are walking around the station in pairs, some with dogs. They’re not sure what to expect. We’re handed a mock newspaper – the Evening Substandard – and we’re told to wave it around during the lectures. After ten minutes of waiting, a cheer goes up from under the departure screens and we run over to see what’s happened.

Hundreds of people sit, kneel, crouch on the floor. More are standing at the back, as speaker after speaker gives a speech in front of banners with ‘Free Education Zone’ and ‘Education is a right’. Members of the public are invited to come up and speak, and a couple do so, giving their wholehearted support to the students and praising them for their actions. The police are bewildered, but I suspect, pleasantly surprised that this is all that was planned.

As the flash mob disperses, a group of 6 drummers emerge and begin drumming, attracting attention from police officers in the station. They direct the drummers and the crowd outside, telling them, “You can drum to your heart’s content, as long as you are beyond the glass doors.” Along the way out, protestors and passersby dance to the beat.

I briefly speak to Jasper, from the School of Oriental and African Studies. He’s been lecturing at the front, and I’m amazed that the flash mob was co-ordinated so successfully. “It’s great isn’t it?” he beams, before joining his friends dancing and chanting along to the beat of the drums. Passersby join in – one gives their child to a student to hold on their shoulders for a while.

Gradually, after the drum beats fade into the hum-drum of a busy London station, everyone leaves, jubilant and positive. It’s been a long day, and they have a lot to plan for tomorrow – the ‘Day X’ protest in London.