It's April now. I should have written about this when it actually happened, but there have been a couple of birthdays since then, including my own 24th birthday. This means that the tail-end of March and the early stages of April have been spent mainly drinking and not working hard enough.
I, along with several other chums, were present on the 'March For The Alternative' in London on Saturday 26th where hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to display their dissatisfaction with public sector cuts, both impending and in action, and the threat of privatisation to various areas of the sector. As both a NHS worker and a student these are immediate threats (which I have personally already experienced in both work and education) but really the changes that are being (or have been) made are going to have an effect on everyone in our country, and I would venture mainly negatively.
There's the backdrop for this entry. I'm not going to delve too deeply into the political side of things (political in the sense of politics as discussed on the news and in the press, generic politics, you know what I mean), along with arguments for and against. There are plenty of other people out there better versed in political discussion with more informed opinions. I would recommend a good associate's blog here which is a good read if this is what you are after. It mainly looks at the occupation of Fortnum & Mason on that day. What I mainly wish to look at are the attitudes of people against the cuts who declined to go on the march.
I don't think I know anyone personally who is supportive of the cuts. I do know quite a lot of people though who are opposed to them but didn't go on the march. There were some people who were put off going by the scenes of violence that had occurred at the last student demonstrations around the vote to increase fees. It is quite sad that media sensationalism has led to this. Yes, the police used horses against students at the previous march, but the last one of this scale, the march against the war in Iraq, was much more peaceful. One of our friends was originally not going to go but changed her mind on the day. Once she was up there and part of the march she saw that there was nothing to be nervous of at all, and so I imagine will be more than happy to protest if (that should be when) another such event occurs.
The main disappointment though was those people who didn't think that marching would make a difference.
Let's try a social experiment. First of all, on your own, start talking really loudly. Anything happen? No. OK, now go and get all your housemates and start talking really loudly. At this point your downstairs neighbours may be raising eyebrows and wondering what's the ruckus is all about. Now go downstairs and get them to join in. This may disturb your next door neighbours from watching Come Dine With Me. Go and get them to join in, and while you're at it, why not get the rest of your street to come outside and join in too. Perhaps instead of just talking loudly you could all sing something loudly together. Choose a song that you're all familiar with though so everyone can participate fully. People walking past your street may stop to look and see what's going on. Get them to join in too. In fact, move from your street to an adjacent street and recruit all the people there. Get them singing as well. At this point people may well come from other streets to listen and see what is happening. Invite them to sing too. This is quicker than going out to recruit people. Let them come to you. See if you can get the entire village/district to sing along. That would be quite something. Definitely newsworthy. The nearest town would take an interest, certainly. Take your show out to them, and get them to sing along. This would probably make an impact on national press rather than just local press. People in the city would be intrigued, that's for sure. Some of them anyway. Just for them, take your show to them. You might be tired of singing the same song by this point. With lots of people also it is quite difficult to find one song that everyone likes equally, but by this point the song you initially chose should have enough prestige attached to it to carry you through. If you work really hard and the song is catchy enough you will be in a good position. Try and get the entire city to sing the song together, all at once, all at the same time. That will probably be quite loud. If you manage to orchestrate this and chose London as your city you will probably end up being the Prime Minister. Congratulations!
What this heavy handed analogy is trying to suggest is that if enough people turn up to do something all together at the same time then it's going to have an impact. Another important thing to consider is how events like these get people talking and thinking about the issues at stake. Getting politics to be a real part of people's lives is the key to getting them active. If marches and debates are a regular thing that people are constantly exposed to then it will be hard for them not to form opinions about them, and if these opinions are kept alive and well, and not reduced to dead dogmas then they should hopefully passionately enough to get involved the next time around.
There is another heavy handed analogy that I'd like deploy here also.
Let's imagine your next-door neighbours have some people over for dinner. You're trying to read a book; let's say it's Finnegan's Wake. You're struggling with Finnegan's Wake on account of their dinner table discussions, but since it's the weekend you'll let it slide. You can tackle Joyce later. The next day though, your next-door neighbours over again. They are solidifying their relationships by inviting people over for drinks. They'll have some alcohol and listen to some music well into the night. It's not too loud but you are having some trouble concentrating, as Finnegan's Wake is quite a difficult book to get into. Oh well, maybe tomorrow night. Except that tomorrow night they've decided to carry on from the previous one. Next-door neighbours' friends have brought some of their friends along and are now having a fully fledged party. The music is louder, the alcohol is more potent, some bastard is even smoking. The fumes are managing to permeate through the walls and your hallway does not smell nice anymore. You're not getting very far through Finnegan's Wake. And why the hell haven't they invited you to this party?! It's a bit a ridiculous, but at a risk of spoiling their fun you let them get on with it and decided to try reading the book tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately, tomorrow afternoon is a very bad time to try reading Finnegan's Wake. Due to a ridiculous cocktail of drugs that has been going round, the party has descended into a horrible sex-fest. All you can hear are the groans and grunts of heaving flesh and banging bedposts. You could swear that there's some actual goats and monkeys going at it next door. Urgh. This is no time for Joyce's monolith. And thanks to all those endurance enhancing drugs this orgy is going to be continuing for quite some time. Alas though, not long enough. Because amidst the sweat and fuck-making someone's neglected their cigarette, and quickly the carpet is on fire. They're too busy getting busy to notice, and in their drug-addled confusion they fail to notice that the entire house is burning down around them. Sadly for you, this house is semi-detached, and as a result you are going to be on the receiving end of severe domestic fire damage. On the bright side you lose your copy of Finnegan's Wake in the blaze.
If we don't oppose things that we disagree with then we will end up giving license to the decision makers to do bigger and badder things the next time around. Stand up and be counted, lest your favourite books get burnt.
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"First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me."
Pastor Martin Niemöller.
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"...I shall define actual politics as the constituent formulae of our nerves, brains, muscles and stomachs in their inevitable social reality, formulae that become abstracted from our immediate social relations even in the composition of the same..."
Editor of Hi Zero 2.
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