Categories: protest
Tags: General Nonsense
Date: 09 November 2009 12:26:05
The entries so far have highlighted how to make protest family friendly and how it can be a leisure activity and a family event. However, and here is the thing, protesting is about supporting a cause. Protesting and demo's are about showing what we are against or in favour of. They are not excuses for a jolly.
In our world, particularly the fluffy Christian world, have we lost sight of this. Is the Wave going to be about saving the planet and eco concerns or is it just another excuse for an outing with our left leaning liberal friends?
Have our efforts over the years actually changed or achieved anything or have they made matters worse?
Then there is the matter of the dark side of protest. I have been on demos where you would be unlikely to find your "average Christian". I have been quietly led away by a friend to have a hot chocolate when tempted to vent my anger on a policeman man handling others at a Reclaim the Streets demo when I said "take his number to report him" and he turned and said "I've taken them off".
I have been forced, pregnant, to run through a graveyard to get to safety when police charged a demo to shut down a BNP bookshop. The trouble igniting the police charge I am certain started by right wing agitators.
I have seen the brew crew and police kick off at a demo against the Criminal Justice Act; greatful I had ignored the directions of a policeman and followed my instinct to escape back to the coach before the riot started.
I am not so innocent that I blame just the police or indeed the majority of police. The majority of police and protesters are peaceful people. However, in all groups you get a minority of people determined to cause trouble and who ignore the fear they subject others too. These are the reason many people choose not to protest or just to attend fluffy events which are more like post-modern Sunday school trips.
Me, in my old age and conscious of the need for my CRB tend to fall in the latter category now. Yet I will still protest as I still believe in the possibility of change and value this form of action as a sign of a healthy democracy.