| Sore feet and a soaring heart |
[Feb. 15th, 2003|09:25 pm] |
| [ | Feeling |
| | thoughtful | ] |
| [ | Reading |
| | Just bought some new books - wheeeeeeeeeee! | ] |
Well, I'm back from the peace march. What an inspirational day - a million people on the march, most of them quite ordinary folk who wouldn't normally go anywhere near a demonstration.
I met up with seven others from the Hounslow Liberal Democrats on the train in to London, and we joined a host of Lib Dems at the Royal Festival Hall. (I also briefly saw Byron from T21.) Charles Kennedy spoke to us with a megaphone from a gantry high above, flanked by MPs, and then nipped down to lead us off. We went along the South Bank, crossed the river at Blackfriars Bridge, and picked up the march on the Embankment. We were a long, long way from the front - not long after this it was announced that the first people had already reached Hyde Park - but there were many thousands of people behind us, still on the South Bank or crossing the bridges from it. We were in a sea of gold 'Lib Dems say NO' placards and everywhere you looked there were MPs - apart from Kennedy I saw Paul Marsden, Lembit Opik (and his partner Sian Lloyd), Simon Hughes, Matthew Taylor, Tom Brake, Norman Baker, Jenny Tonge (a teenager watching the march pointed and shouted "Who's that famous lady?", just as she was taking a huge bite out of a sandwich), David Rendel, Don Foster, Lord Navnit Dholakia, Sarah Ludford MEP and the Southwark Council leader Nick Stanton. Great turn-out.
I think we started walking at about 12.30pm. It was perhaps 4.30pm when we finally reached Hyde Park and it took something like two more hours until the last person got there - the speeches by then were long over.
There were some classic banners - the one that's getting reported on a lot was the "Make Tea Not War" one, but I liked the Surrey Heath Liberal Democrats with their "Don't bomb Bagshot Baghdad". There was also the surreal "It's the black worms under Tony's skin", the dubious "Shave your pubes - no more Bush", the tasteless "Toast bread - not Arabs", and the faintly embarrassed "Labour member against the war". An infinite number of Trotskyite splinter groups sold newspapers and handed out leaflets. Crusties with dreadlocks mixed with disgusted-from-Tunbridge-Wells types and Muslim women in headscarfs.
Reaching the park was a disappointment though. The cohesion of the march seemed to falter as the route disintegrated: instead of flooding down a single road we split into separate rivulets as we forded Hyde Park Corner and trickled into the park. Members of our group split off to go home and I was alone as I pushed forward towards the stage to catch the end of Jesse Jackson's speech - he was a real disappointment, a total drama queen. I found myself surrounded by marchers who were more concerned with Palestine than the coming war and briefly a speaker appeared on the platform who shared their views. Then finally that squeaky-voiced child Ms Dynamite stepped up to recite some patronising doggerall she'd written and to tell people to make some NOIZ!
So I went home, reflecting that the event had been about the marchers not the speakers (although I gather CK spoke well). A wonderful, inspiring day, apart from the last bit.
I don't imagine for a moment that Blair will take the slightest notice but you have to try, don't you? |
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| Comments: |
From: (Anonymous)
2003-02-16 12:06 am (UTC)
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Good on you!
I really wish I could have been there.
White Hart | |
