Hazy Day Of Protest

On the first warm day of Spring 2015, more than 20,000 protesters took to the streets of London, hoping to influence government policy on climate change. Matt Anderson gives his impression of the atmosphere.

Wa-wump wa-wump wa-wump.

Frizzy pink hair rests wonkily on top the face concealed by a gas mask. The first spring sun beating down causes sweat to bead and slide tortuously towards a half-hidden eye; unable to blink the drop away, it falls – a minor swerve, a stinging sensation, and momentarily blurred vision.

On Saturday 9 March the climate change protest was led by a group of cyclists dressed in varying degrees of absurdity to show they were serious about fighting the institutions responsible for climate change. Louder than their collective voices were the techno beats for peace strapped to the wagon attached to the pink haired, gas masking bicyclist.

When really all we wanted was to love.’

There’s a whole lotta music going on! Perfectly choreographed a punk band plays through the crowd (Punk, a protest from long ago, now reduced to an irritating glare on a pair of sunglasses). There’s a drum set on a carriage (not a gun carriage), while bass and guitar walk tall and self-satisfied on either side.

Smug, yes, yet their tunes uplifted those around them as they played to the vibrant blue sky and the warm sun blanketing all these street-people-for-a-day.

‘Can I get a copy?’

It isn’t fear that looks out, it isn’t determination, it isn’t pride, it isn’t anger. It’s hope that has already been beaten down slowly, cruelly but not brutally or impossibly; the desperate spark of hope which has brought this boy, still unable to grow a beard, to the streets to fight the ominous ‘they’ who have punished his life so.

What feeling could be greater than that of overthrowing a corrupt regime? If only his comrades would rise up…

Matt A warzone sized

On every march the Black Block appears on, they are shunned by the mainstream, coveted by the cowards, scorned by the police and lusted by the media. Today they broke away momentarily to block the already jammed traffic, hang up their signs, scream their anger, and wave the black flag of directionless politics.

Before the scattered and mostly inattentive police could react to the breakaway, the corporate media rushed to find the quick and easy shot-of-the-day….

…so that no one has to think too hard about any of the rest of it.

Matt Anderson is Rising East‘s Counterculture Editor.

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