G20 Protest, Mk 1

bristol | protests | opinion/analysis Sunday March 29, 2009 23:15 by Drazic dansinfo at ymail dot com

The Summer Of Rage begins quietly

On Saturday 28th March 2009, the first of the series of G20 protest/actions happened in London. Keen to begin the Summer of Rage as early as possible, many people travelled from Bristol, the rest of the UK and all over Europe to attend. The march brought out 35,000 (police estimate) and was described by the BBC and The Independent as peaceful, and it was, but a major point has been missed...

Trade Unionists, Greens, Anarchists, Socialists and many others feel the frustration in the air.

"Meet us outside Embankment tube. Turn left and we're by the giant bananas and the girl giving away the fake Financial Times", read my text message.
Having met my activist friends and been handed dozens of creatively produced flyers and spoof newspapers, I trailed out with the excited crowd to wait for the start of the march. We had no idea how many people would attend, and anybody who's ever been to a protest knows how difficult it is to estimate numbers during the event. I heard afterwards the police estimated 35,000. Bodycounts in all their forms obsess mainstream media reporters.
Sometimes a wonderful party atmosphere prevailed, fuelled by Anarchist drums and trade union brass bands, at other times as the march slowed and split and dispersed, it was nearly silent and I began to doubt the action's value as a force for change. It's difficult to maintain passion, not to mention music, over several miles. We straggled into Hyde Park near the front of the march to listen to the speeches from the stage. The easy slogans of trade unionist guest speakers made my lips tighten with dissapointment. They make the same general points every time. A passionate hunger-striker raised the bar, however and several well-made videos on the permanant big-screen helped with the crowd's flagging energy a little.
I've started to question these marches I go on, normalised as they are for Londoners, protesters and police alike. Structured around a standardised route, only tourists bat an eyelid now. How many marches and how many people are neccesary for change to occur. And that change is probably the major problem. With so many disparate groups of Anarchists, Socialists, Unionists and Greens appearing side-by-side, it can be difficult to work out exactly what form these changes must take.
My mind wandered as Tony Robinson, the poster-boy (!) of the protests appeared on stage again. I wondered how bystanders can be convinced of anything when protests are becoming the norm. I wondered how these large collections of people can actually make their complex points in the mainstream media when reporters don't care about anything but violence. There is passion in the ranks, there is energy, but is there collective focus? Can there be?
I was sitting on the grass in the sun and showers long enough that I could work through the logic of these questions: the normalisation of protesting will, inevitably lead to smaller, more media-savvy direct-actions. The lack of coherence of the groups will, inevitably lead to splintering and frustration. There will undoubtably be violence in what has already been dubbed the coming Summer of Rage, probably starting at the further G20 protests this week. We can all feel it in the air. As always the media will condemn the aggressive minority while giving them a hundred times the air-time a peaceful protest like Saturday's gets. Violence has always been what these frustrations have mutated into in the past, but it is easy to forget when watching news reports of riots that if something really does need to change, and even governments agree with that these days, then protesting will also need to change. And who's come up with a better way of grabbing a meek society's attention? Jade Goody perhaps? Violence makes the headlines. Sad but true.