The people’s flag is deepest red…

Hello chums, or should that be comrades, as I have just returned from the Apocalyptic Class War at the Palace Pier. Anyone who wants to know more can check out – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/8032579.stm, although I don’t think they have all the details).

Anyhoo, being the computer literate sensitive douche I am, I decided to chronicle my experiences so that future generations can… well… see what I wimp I was.

Now, unfortunately I missed the open of the festivities, which included popular Brightonian carnival games such as “Chase the idealistic teenagers with the horses” and my personal favourite “Mace the hippie”. Stories speak of attempts at knocking over Police Trucks and the defilation of McDonalds branches (we brits sure know how to do revolution). Anyway, the effects of the demonstrations could be seen across town. The police were everywhere, the station, the streets, they even had guys in full blown riot gear outside most major banks. In my opinion, the way to overthrow a capitalist government is to target the decadent higher up powers-that-be, not to smash up an HSBC and scare a few old ladies, but hey, what do I know about the pumping leftist underground? I wasn’t even drunkenly picking fights or anything…

Once I arrived at the rave/demonstration/accident waiting to happen I was staggered by the sheer size of things. I had no idea that so many people had turned up, and considering the nearest I had ever come to a protest is the DVD of Billy Elliot, I wasn’t used to seeing so many protestors. The eeirest thing about it all is just how much the crowd mentality effects you. I mean, I was slightly biased towards the protestors anyway, what with my fear, loathing and morbid interest in the modern military industrial complex, but there’s something about the anarchic rhythm of a mob that can get to even the most timid of men (just look at me). It’s a dizzying mess of emotions, in the space of seconds, my mood changed from total and utter terror at the very real probablity that the police could initiate a baton charge at any moment (some members of the crowd I spoke to were pretty pissed about the G20 beatings) to an immense desire to take to the streets with an AK-47 in the name of sweet lady revolution (ironic as the protests were anti war). Obviously, these are foolish fantasies, but they were still alarming, and I realised that however mediated you seem, people are very impressionable. Thankfully I’ve always had a strong left wing bias, and could never bring myself to support any right wing movements, but it goes to show how passionate people can get over the behaviour of the pack.

The other staggering thing is the sheer diversity of people that were attending the demonstration. Things seemed divided into multiple groups: The people that knew why they were there and genuinely wanted a peaceful protest, the people that had no idea why they were there and wanted to get pissed in front of police officers, and the people that wanted a fight. I swear blind that I saw people in Combat 18 jackets there, despite the fact that the demonstration was meant to have a leftist bias. This brings me onto another point, it seems to me, and far be it from I to criticise, that many of the people there were behaving in a manner unbecoming of those with a virtuous cause. I understand hedonistic desire, but I don’t think that disrupting the daily lives and routines of innocent people with needlessly raunchy behaviour is going to get many people on their side. Bare in mind this isn’t always to put forward the message, but is sometimes just to intimidate and empower, which is exactly what the people they claim to be undermining do. Obviously, only a very small minority were causing trouble, and many (including myself) just wanted to express opinion in peace. I mean, I have no qualms with the police, as I say, abominations should be decapitated at the source, not prodded with pokers until they bite back.

I actually got speaking to some of the people involved, and it was amazing to see the sheer vitriol directed at the police, sheer anger that ranged from understandable to seemingly random. One man claimed to have attacked a senior police officer at a previous rally with a paintball gun (fired into his face) in retribution for the beating of a friend, another spoke of a close friend being knocked to the ground in the pavillian grounds for getting to close to the corden (an innocent being brutalised on property built by the Royal Family – How very fitting) and one gentlemen was discussing with me at length a series of videos showing police officers being mauled and maimed in various riots – and expressing a desire to repeat some of them. The worrying thing is that this person wasn’t a thug or a yobbo, he was in his ordinary life a very normal person.

One thing I think we can all gain some degree of contentment from is how this has opened people’s eyes to the horrors that weapon’s manufacturers such as EDO MBM Technology conduct within the limits of a city that prides itself on liberalism and progression. If there is any justice in our society, the powers that be will listen to the people and will intervene to try and put as much of a bung in the operations of these kings of conflict. I know that it will be hard, and I know that they have power on their side, but it’s better to try and do something than to sit back with our fingers in our ears sedating ourselves with creature comforts while the unfortunate wither and rot around us.  Call me stupid, call me naive, but that is the main reason I put in an appearance today, plain and simple humanity. Demonstrations and gatherings can be amongst the only ways to voice opinion that will be noticed by those at the top, I just hope that everyone present understood that.

Overall, and speaking as someone who does not attend these regularly (mainly due to lack of organisational skills) I found it to be a dizzying experience that felt like teetering on a knife edge, a place where the boundaries between genuine commitment to a noble cause and a poorly cooked excuse for grown people to act like animals are extremely blurred. I do wish to act against the horrors of this world throughout my life to some degree though, and this has been an enlightening (if not untarnished) experience.

I had more to say, but in time honoured tradition I’ve gone and bloody forgotten it. Feel free to leave comments, it may spark up some memory.

Fighting the good fight,

- Tom