Are you protesting this weekend?
The police have warned of a "summer of rage", and in the vanguard, it's claimed, the middle-classes angry at the current state of the economy.
Then there's the G20, and the potential for heated demonstration surrounding that meeting.
But is it always the squeaky wheel that gets the most oil? Blog commenter Richard accuses the media of overlooking peaceful demonstations.
On iPM we'd like you to share your experience of protesting, whether large or small. We're particularly keen to hear from you if you are going to a demonstration this weekend. Leave a note either in the comments or email us at ipm-at-bbc.co.uk. You can twitter us too.
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I have never been on a protest march in my life(I`m 64) but I will be on the G20 one.I think that says it all!
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I'm a boring, ordinary, ordinary, middle aged, middle class self-employed person living in rural Worcestershire.
Nevertheless I will be at the Bank Of England on the 1st April waving a home-made banner.
Why? I'm simply sick of the looters that run this country.
I'm well aware that my puny little protest with cost me time & money and will achieve precisely nothing ... but what else can I do?
If our leaders and bankers have their snouts deep in the trough, how else can I protest?
Most families have been damaged by the bankers & politicians greed & ineptitude.
There is a LOT of anger out there.
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I have been on two protests:
1. In Australia in the 1970s after Gough Whitlam's elected Labour government had been thrown out by Governor General Kerr and replaced by the Opposition ('Conservative') party! This still defeats me. There were thousands and thousands and thousands of people on the streets of Melbourne. The protest got a small piece on page eight of 'The Age' after pages of obvious propaganda. All the advertising space on the TV and in the papers had been bought up weeks before by the Opposition party and their supporters to enable them to promote their party in the re-election that followed. It wasn't long afterwards I decided to leave the country.
2. I was at the peace march against the (then) proposed war on Iraq. Anyone with any sense knew there were no 'Weapons of Mass Destruction', it was all a big con to go to war. Did anyone listen? No. The war went ahead and so followed the subsequent mess.
When the politicians have their minds made up, I don't think any amount of protesting can change their thinking.
Can anyone cite an example where it has? Where a protest has radically and (nearly) immediately changed government thinking or intended policy?
I doubt it.
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Ref: the interview with the representative of the 'Government of the Dead' on PM 25th March 09.
I'm angry with bankers. I believe the system needs a radical overhaul to stop greed. I believe in peaceful direct action. I believe in civil disobedience. I've been at countless demos over the years - from Twyford Down to anti-Iraq war march. I'll be at the march on 28th in London.
But I was disgusted to hear that on April 1st protesters would hang effigies of bankers from lamposts during the G20 protests. This is fascism. The Nazi Das Reich Division hung boys and men of the town of Tulle from lamposts in 1944. Hanging effigies from lamposts? Not in my name.
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I HAVE TRIED EVERY PROTEST POSSIBLE
i am not surprised the is so much knife crime and anorexia and terror
when is the chatterin class gonna realise
it may be an alien language
but the ghetto has seen the corruption for years
how ever much we bury our head in the sand
i have approached the bbc about several horrific stories
none of which they ever process
i volunteer to come on ipm and tell radio 4 listerns the basics
i am an interpreter of social state and interpersonal behaviour and abuse
call me an alien anthropologist
[Personal details removed by Moderator]
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Recently a petition was handed in to Network Rail offices in Manchester by a group including primary school pupils, under heavy police escort (while being filmed/photographed from within the bulding).
Network Rail had written to residents of Heaton Moor/Heaton Chapel in Stockport: the trees in the railway cutting were about to be cut down. Protest was almost instantaneous. A meeting was called and over 70 people attended at very short notice, the articulate middle class truly incited.
We the protesters acknowledge the risk posed to trains by trees that might fall, the 'teflon' effect of leaves on the lines, and the cheapness of maintaining a cleared lineside throughout the network. However, for the sake of wildlife habitats, global cooling but primarily because they look so good, we are pressing for a judicious assessment of what can be left standing. Network Rail executives held a drop-in session (well-attended despite their refusal to advertise in the local press) on 26th March. They cited their risk assessment, tight budget etc, but more or less underpinned our fears that the slopes are going to be almost denuded.
The fact that sub-contracted chainsaw operators will work in the dark implies a risk to trees marked for survival and a desire (literally) to obfuscate the operation. If there's an attracive embankment near you, enjoy it now.
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I have been to many demos and been arrested more than once (for non-violent offences).
I feel it is a duty as a citizen to make my voice heard. Major changes in society have often been preceded by protest. Women's sufferage, the abolition of slavery, the abolition of apartheid, the civil rights movement in the US saw people stand up, be heard and even go to prison and die for values that are now mainstream.
It is strange that the media seem to portray protest negatively and focus on the minority of individuals who do sometimes use these events to vent their anger violently. By doing this the media encourage violence at demos and discourage peaceful advocacy at a time when people are cynical about making their voice heard. The media should encourage political participation not denigrate it.
I will be at the demo tomorrow (it's a shame I'll miss IPM!). We are at a crucial time in human history. We've never before faced so many problems at once on such a global scale. We have the opportunity to make a better world through tackling these problems in an ethical way that plans for future generations of people.
My main message is:
the system is broken-don't fix it-make a new one. One that recognises that the economy and our survival depend on our environment and that greed, inequality and individualism cannot be the basis for a safe and sustainable society.
Dan Green n Red Fish
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Thanks so much for the comments - we've had lots of email too - all very much appreciated.
But, at the risk of being hung from a lamp post, let me say a few words in defence of the meeja - in particular BBC News. The media does not only report violent protest. Rallies, marches, gatherings are all part of our regular reporting routine - but I accept that a good ruck is likely to attract more coverage than peaceful protest. This is not new. The press has always been more interested in things that are out of the ordinary rather than just plain ordinary.
On the programme this week, we are going to from veteran protesters and a few newbies too. So, it will be less about us and more about them. Also, let's be honest, there are genuine fears about what might take place over the next few days in London. G20's have a habit of attracting both mainstream and exteme protest - not for nothing has all police leave been cancelled in the capital.
What's struck us this week - has been the number of people who say they are planning to protest for the first time.
Oh - and if you are going to miss this weeks programme, please do try as as a pod to find us on the iPlayer.
Next week we're back at 5.30.
Many thanks
Rupert
( iPM Ed )
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I dare to suggext the best solution is for us all to cease paying between 20% and 30% APR on credit cards, and push ourselves onto Debt Management Plans where the banks get their money back without interest, at a pace that suits us.
Their greed, in lending unreasonable amounts and then hiking interest rates has got the country into this mess; The Bank of England has its lowest base rate ever; what have HSBC, RBS Group, Lloyds' Conglomerate or Barclays done to pass this on to the customer? Diddly Squat! They're just using it to line the pockets of inept, incompetent former Chief Executives.
Come on Britain, time to get Brown and Darling to show their true colours.
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I used to wear T-shirts for the Legalise Cannabis Campaign - backin the days when cannabis was a mild, tranquil sort of substance. The only time I've actually been on a protest march was when they unveiled the statue of Bomber Harris. I know his motivation may have been good and it was a time of war - but all that death and destruction....
But really, what's the point? Millions marched against the war on Iraq, but Tony had promised George and just ignored the voice of the electorate. That's the trouble with a party system and a "representative" democracy: they all vote on the Party line in order to get promotions (and expenses) and their policies are mostly so similar that our choice is Wally A, Wally B or some minority that stands no electoral chance. Is it any wonder lots of us are disillusioned with politics?
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My 15 year old daughter and I went to the G20 march today which was calm ,convivial and massive -we left Hyde Park at 2.30pm and there were still marchers the length of Piccadillly.We met up with people from Plan one of the international charities there -because it is more fun to go in a group .It was great to see the issues of poverty and climate change coming together .The IMF predicts that over 1.4million more children will die because of the recession and children like those in Bangladesh are on the front line of climate change as their low lying land gets flooded.It is just wrong that the worlds poorest are suffering because of the excesses of the richest -and that is why we marched today
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I agree with Bella M that the electoral system needs an overhaul. I joined the SDP as a founder-member back in 1981 or 82 primarily to try to support a move to Proportional Representation.
It's a lot fairer, and can lead to politicians actually spending their time doing something reasonably sensible, rather than party in-fighting ... however, I think there are slightly more pressing issues requiring the attention of the leaders of the nations just now.
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> Ahead of the G20 next week, iPM wants to know if you have
> ever taken part in a public protest?
Yes. First time was the anti war march in February 2003. (I completely concur with what #Lady_sue says at #2 above. An inquiry won't tell us what we all knew then, and what Robin Cook said in the his resignation speech).
The next was last summer’s Climate Camp at Kingsnorth in Kent. That was an incredible experience, for many reasons. Including – the passion, and commitment of the people involved; the REAL sense of community from living in a very different, and intentional way for a week; the unbelievably over-the-top policing of the camp, and the crass stupidity of that - both from individuals and en masse – which led to injuries, injustice, an outrageous waste of money and was a gross infringement of civil rights. It led to me forming a loose group of jazz musicians called the ‘Jazz Activists’ who are willing, in principle, to play at such events for free, because the presence of live music at them has the capacity to create a much less threatening and aggressive atmosphere than would otherwise be the case. In the protests I’ve been part of so far, the threat to peacefulness came overwhelmingly from the actions and attitudes of the police.
> What would would it take to make you march? Are you thinking about joining a demonstration?
I intend to take part in the protests on 1 April in the City, playing music in a peaceful protest. I’m sure the answer to ‘What is the protest about?’ will be different for nearly all of the people involved. For me, it's the realisation that environmental degradation and the endless pursuit of economic growth are utterly connected. As the New Scientist reported a few weeks ago, and which should be obvious to anyone, perpetual growth from a finite supply of resources can never work, and is doomed to catastrophic collapse. We need to develop a new economics and a new politics based on fairness - a concept which all children understand. Somehow as adults we persuade ourselves that living in a fair way with each other is somehow against human nature.
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