A Fluffy Guide to Family Friendly Protest Tourism- Part 3
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 08 November 2009 08:38:57
Lesson 3 - Get informed and make the most of opportunities One of the keys to family friendly protest tourism is getting yourself informed in advance. Being flexible and just going with the flow are also important. When I went off to Cologne for the Jubilee 2000 it was vital to get some info ahead of time - going off on my own, (without Third Party), to a foreign country where I didn't speak the language. I made sure for that one I got intouch with the UK Jubilee 2000 office to sort out what was happening. Upshot.....I ended up in "crash accomodation" which was the granny flat of an absolutely wonderful elderly woman who kept plying me with homemade jam and so forth. She couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak German but I had a lovely couple of days. I also went to a concert in the evening which I can't quite remember the details of after I had been and stood with some next to some Puruvian nuns in the human chain. Sometimes things don't go as planned though and you have to be ready to adapt. I remember the Wake Up to Trade Justice demo in April 2005, blogged about here, where Christian Aid had given lots of info but slightly underestimated interest. Myself, Surfing, a friend of hers from church and a couple of ickle people including Third Party, went off to London planning to go to a service at Westminster Abbey, possibly up to St. Martin in the Field and then over to Westminster Central Hall. It became clear as we were able to get no where near Westminster Abbey for the service that Christian Aid had underestimated the number of people who might be interested in an all nighter. As such we ended up at St. Martin in the Field getting into the concert, but then failing miserably to get into Westminster Central Hall after a human chain. The night was spent huddled on the green outside. Christian Aid tend to be very good at providing "tourism opportunities" at the large events. In many ways they are the nearest the Christian world gets to the SWP in terms of their excellence in organising demos. In the run up to events they're involved in organising it is a good idea to keep an eye on their website / email updates. The result of doing this for the MPH stuff was a really interesting evening listening to Gordon Brown, amongst others speak. This was my post on what he said. I have to say I did here what I never do on demos. Whilst I might indulge in a bit of celebrity spotting I don't get opportunist asking for photos or autographs, I leave people alone. On this occassion though I wanted Third Party to have her picture taken with the guy who, at that time, might or might not become prime minister. As such as soon as the final applause of the evening had stopped I legged it over with Third Party and asked for the photo. Somebody asked if I wanted them to take it so I could be in there too. I've posted it before, but it will brighten up this post. It also illustrates the t-shirt designs I was talking about yesterday....and Third Party's view on meeting Gordon Brown was he needed new aftershave. Also note Third Party's headscarve and whistles. These events are great opportunities for kids to collect tat advertising various charities and NGO's.