Putting on the Pressure
It seems like a good idea, although I'm not sure why, to begin my reporting of last weekend at the end and work back. Although there were some events on the Sunday evening, for most people the ESF ended with the demonstration against the occupation of Iraq.
Called by the Stop the War Coalition, the march went from Russell Square to Trafalgar Square. Subsequent reports and various activists have bandied around all sorts of estimates about numbers in attendance, ranging all the way to 100,000 people. In my opinion (and I've been to a lot of these things now) there was a fraction of that number there, probably something much closer to police estimates of 15-20,000 people, although they were very spread out at some points. That said, the march was the most international I've ever been on with prominent contingents from Greece, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Turkey and elsewhere.
There was also a wide range of ideological opinions represented. Various Marxist groups were in attendance, alongside trade unionists, hippies, greenies and a contingent of (apparently predominantly German) anarchists. The latter formed an anti-capitalist block declaring its opposition to "precarity", a concept I've never encountered before, which apparently refers to the precarious situations, without any kind of job security, most people live in under modern, post-industrial capitalist societies.
Even getting to the meeting point was something of a mission as the police (at least I assume it was them) had prevented trains from allowing passengers to disembark at Russell Square station, ostensibly because of "overcrowding", although it hardly looked much busier than it might get during a typical rush hour. Fortunately it was not a very long walk from the next station along to Russell Square and we soon met up with the quickly building demonstration and found our way to the new and quite impressive Nottingham Student Peace Movement banner, apparently knocked up in an hour with some material, orange vinyl and a roll of gaffer tape. This was so impressive in fact that it attracted the attention of several camera crews and would appear in a BBC TV report the next day about political pressure on Geoff Hoon.
Although the rains stayed away, the weather was far from great, but the demonstration was still quite upbeat. The route snaked its way through Bloomsbury, up to the Strand, over to the Southbank, back towards Westminster and then down Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. There was a heavy police presence throughout, although in many cases they remained within the numerous vans parked along the route. One of the most amusing moments was a police line formed in front of Sainsburys as if we were going to storm the place and liberate the contents.
At Trafalgar Square the marchers were adressed by various speaker telling them why they had just marched and singing the praises of the ESF. I've heard all this before and had a fairly good idea what I was there for, so I didn't spend a great deal of time listening to the speakers. Instead I perused the stalls, adding to my trainspotter's list of left-wing papers. Unfortunately in the course of my travels I lost everyone I knew and after a while grew bored, although I did stuble across a samba band (possibly Rhythms of Resistance) that lifted my spirits for a while. Nonetheless after a while I decided to call it a day and headed for my train for the long journey home.
Rather worrying was the emerging fact that several activists had been arrested in the course of the march. Subsequent reports have suggested this included one ESF organiser. On reflection the statement I caught by one speaker (possibly Andrew Murray, chair of the Stop the War Coalition) that he "hoped" they would be released soon is hardly sufficient. Any movement which does not support its imprisoned comrades has no chance of effecting serious social change. We shouldn't be expressing our hope that those arrested are released, but instead demanding this be done immediately and doing all we can to ensure this happens.
It had been a long tiring weekend, but a fascinating and inspiring one. This small contribution to the Iraqi struggle for self-determination seemed a fitting end and it is to be hoped that it has contributed to the political pressures on Geoff Hoon and discouraged him from sacrificing British soliders on the altar of George W. Bush's re-election campaign.
Called by the Stop the War Coalition, the march went from Russell Square to Trafalgar Square. Subsequent reports and various activists have bandied around all sorts of estimates about numbers in attendance, ranging all the way to 100,000 people. In my opinion (and I've been to a lot of these things now) there was a fraction of that number there, probably something much closer to police estimates of 15-20,000 people, although they were very spread out at some points. That said, the march was the most international I've ever been on with prominent contingents from Greece, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Turkey and elsewhere.
There was also a wide range of ideological opinions represented. Various Marxist groups were in attendance, alongside trade unionists, hippies, greenies and a contingent of (apparently predominantly German) anarchists. The latter formed an anti-capitalist block declaring its opposition to "precarity", a concept I've never encountered before, which apparently refers to the precarious situations, without any kind of job security, most people live in under modern, post-industrial capitalist societies.
Even getting to the meeting point was something of a mission as the police (at least I assume it was them) had prevented trains from allowing passengers to disembark at Russell Square station, ostensibly because of "overcrowding", although it hardly looked much busier than it might get during a typical rush hour. Fortunately it was not a very long walk from the next station along to Russell Square and we soon met up with the quickly building demonstration and found our way to the new and quite impressive Nottingham Student Peace Movement banner, apparently knocked up in an hour with some material, orange vinyl and a roll of gaffer tape. This was so impressive in fact that it attracted the attention of several camera crews and would appear in a BBC TV report the next day about political pressure on Geoff Hoon.
Although the rains stayed away, the weather was far from great, but the demonstration was still quite upbeat. The route snaked its way through Bloomsbury, up to the Strand, over to the Southbank, back towards Westminster and then down Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. There was a heavy police presence throughout, although in many cases they remained within the numerous vans parked along the route. One of the most amusing moments was a police line formed in front of Sainsburys as if we were going to storm the place and liberate the contents.
At Trafalgar Square the marchers were adressed by various speaker telling them why they had just marched and singing the praises of the ESF. I've heard all this before and had a fairly good idea what I was there for, so I didn't spend a great deal of time listening to the speakers. Instead I perused the stalls, adding to my trainspotter's list of left-wing papers. Unfortunately in the course of my travels I lost everyone I knew and after a while grew bored, although I did stuble across a samba band (possibly Rhythms of Resistance) that lifted my spirits for a while. Nonetheless after a while I decided to call it a day and headed for my train for the long journey home.
Rather worrying was the emerging fact that several activists had been arrested in the course of the march. Subsequent reports have suggested this included one ESF organiser. On reflection the statement I caught by one speaker (possibly Andrew Murray, chair of the Stop the War Coalition) that he "hoped" they would be released soon is hardly sufficient. Any movement which does not support its imprisoned comrades has no chance of effecting serious social change. We shouldn't be expressing our hope that those arrested are released, but instead demanding this be done immediately and doing all we can to ensure this happens.
It had been a long tiring weekend, but a fascinating and inspiring one. This small contribution to the Iraqi struggle for self-determination seemed a fitting end and it is to be hoped that it has contributed to the political pressures on Geoff Hoon and discouraged him from sacrificing British soliders on the altar of George W. Bush's re-election campaign.
posted by Disillusioned kid at 3:24 pm
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