I was involved in this today. It was the first real protest I've done, and it was good - pretty empowering. It was also fortunate that I parked on a street right before the huge crowd marched through it, if I was thirty seconds later I was doomed.
But enough about me - have you ever gone to protests? What were they about? My dad was arrested about Vietnam in the 1970s, so I feel that I've got to continue the tradition somewhat.
Tiananmen Square '88 was pretty wild. I ended up getting lost and impeding some army vehicles.
In all serious - fair play, Spoon. I've been to a few smaller demo's in Manchester, but nothing overly significant in size.
I did have Tiananmen Square in mind when we were in the street, which is obviously grandiose, but we've just been learning about it in history. I can't even imagine what it must have felt like to march there. Our history teacher also just said that the reason Brigham Young made the streets in Salt Lake so big was to prevent big street-wide protests, so get rekt, Brigham.
EDIT:
I've never been on one but applaud those that do. The power of protest is an important one in a democracy.
No, but I have signed two petitions against actions taken by the Evil Tories (on the council), so I'm basically Rudi Dutschke.
I can just imagine Spoon getting overwhelmed by furious big black men whilst squeaking 'Black Lives Matter!'.
I took part in a demonstration that was part of the students protests in Vienna in.. 2010 I think? I wouldn't describe it as "empowering". I was generally supportive of what they were for (to prevent restrictions of access to universities and more), but the demonstration itself was mostly just a constant repetition of meaningless chants and annoying whistles. It was also unintentionally hilarious to see all those small leftist splinter groups marching around that demanded roughly the same but denounced each other as being "Stalinist", "reactionary" etc.
Most memorable for me was that I went there with a Nepalese co-student who was just flabbergasted at how incredibly non-violent the whole process was.
The same year there was also a demo against a right-wing presidential candidate. That one felt a bit less silly.
Yeah the factionism is one of the more hilarious elements of the left
I was on anti-war protests before they attacked Iraq.
The Free Education group held a little protest the other day where about 50 of them did a lap of the campus shouting some kind of slogan before stopping near the SU holding up buses and traffic which meant students were late for lectures. Really hitting the right targets there, I'm glad they got tasered last year.
I went to the Anti-Iraq War protest at the UN. We were given permission to leave school/miss class to go on it.
I also ended up walking into a few Anti-G8 demonstrations when the G8 was in Evian. The city just turned into a boarded up warzone for about a week. Some quality photos for it looking back
edit: Oh yeah and I've been on a few anti-austerity marches but that's normally just a bunch of punks/skaters with speakers attached to floats drinking beers.
I once watched about twenty minutes of a candle-lit vigil against Hate Crime in Norwich. I listened to the no borders person, but I left when somebody started with 'First they came for the single mothers...' I don't think I've ever heard an adaptation of that that hasn't been completely cretinous.
Is there a lot of hate crime in Norwich?
Some black person got denied a flat at the height of ebolamania, but this was before that. I was just out mooching one Saturday night and saw them all crowded around in the park.
Police are different in America though. My old man tells a story which was admittedly in the 70s and in Georgia but it gives you an idea. He went over with no money or anything as a sort of adventure when he was about 20. He soon found work selling ice cream. A cop bought one off him, and then asked if he had a 'piece'. He said not, and the officer said he should get hold one one, because of 'those niggers'.
He also said that the ice cream sales were race related. In black areas he couldn't sell vanilla because 'I don' wan' non' dat honky cream', and vice versa with chocolate in white areas because 'nigger cream'.
It's a stupid country.
Honky Cream was my nickname at school.
Request for a sound recording of 'I don' wan' non' dat honky cream'.
I accidentally wandered into the anti-war march in Amsterdam in 2000, whilst stoned off my tits.
I once got told off by a copper for booting the remains of a cooked chicken across the road, even though it was already there and wot fucking law sez I can't kick chicken bones around?
Keep fighting the good fight, man!Originally Posted by Lewis
Cheers. I see plenty of people prattling away on the internet about their right to kick chicken scraps around, but how many of them would actually put their neck on the line?
It's the national sport of south London. The Met just turn a blind eye.
It was a nice idea for a thread Spoons.
Thread was abolutely fucking rocking until me and Tobes ruined it.
My grandfather and mom both were on the Civil Right's movements legal defense teams since the early 60's and my older sister has been at the Southern Poverty Law Center for 20 years. Protests and rallies were a somewhat regular family outing when I was a kid. My twin sister and I used to tease our mom with "other mom's take their kids to Disneyland."
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