Tales from Mat Day 2000

Tales of Protest

Donna: Prague 2000

When we began protesting again the multinationals we weren't getting
much coverage. The World Trade Organisation and the IMF were deciding
on policies, which should be set by democratically elected governments,
but their influence is so strong that governments are often beholden to
them. It was the protest movement that really brought the issue to the
forefront of people's minds, got them talking about it. Before people's
eyes were glazed over but now there is a lot more awareness about
sweatshops and neo-liberal economic policies.
It was Seattle that really began this shift and the next one I attended
was Prague. The police went very over the top there and in an attempt
to move us on got very heavy handed. They tear-gassed us nine times
that day which was a bit over the top. It starts to wear thin after a
while.

Lucy: June 18 2000

We were in the centre of London and just as the police were moving us
along, a young girl kicked the front bumper with her trainer. Well the
van driver accelerated and her foot got caught under the bumper. As he
drove forward she was being pulled under the van until her hip got
trapped underneath the axel. She was there for three quarters of an
hour before they got her out and she spent the next three months in
hospital with internal bleeding. It's things like that which feed the
anger of the crowd and my experience has shown me that a lot of the
trouble-makers are angry about things that have happened to them that
don't necessarily relate to the issue. One of the guys who had seen
that girl being run over went on to vandalise the McDonalds. He
actually went on trial for it and that event was used to explain his
anger. Violence breeds violence.

Andrew: Sri Lanka 1994

I was working for an organisation called Peace Brigades International:
we provide protective accompaniment to protesters and activists. In Sri
Lanka we were working for non-violent change in the country, not the
government or the Tamil Tigers.
It was election nomination day in July 1994 and we accompanied a client
who was going to be distributing leaflets about the rights of the
people under Sri Lankan law. But when we arrived there was already a
full-blown riot going on. It was between the Opposition People's
Alliance and the UN Peace Supporters - The United National Party who
were in power at the time. The roles have been reversed since
then.
As some of the candidates were coming out, their security detail
emerged from the taxis with sub-machine guns and started running
towards the crowd. Just at the last moment they shot into the air but
until then everyone expected them to fire straight into the demo.
That cleared some space.
The next minute they sped off, leaving the two opposing sides to lay
into each other hammer and tongs: people were getting their heads
cracked open with two by fours, supporters for the two sides were
throwing rocks at each other - chunks of cement, and the police
eventually and without warning let tear gas off and started
billy-clipping the crowd.
Well I was there wearing a yellow bib with 'International Observer'
written on the back and 'Peace Brigades' on the front so the police saw
this white man and just went around me. I stood there as guys next to
me were being beaten and I was just trying to stay on my feet. I
emerged practically unscathed, which I put it down to good
old-fashioned slam dancing: I used to be a punker and it must have been
good training for my balance.

Lucy: May Day 2000

I wasn't at May Day last year, I was actually away in Amsterdam for the
weekend and I got back to London on Sunday afternoon, switched the
television on and was absolutely shocked at what had happened. I called
up a lot of my friends and asked them what the hell had happened? "What
went wrong?" "I thought you were going to put some flowers outside
Parliament and instead you dug up Parliament Square and trashed the War
Memorial. What's going on here?" Apparently it just got completely out
of control and one of the reasons for this was that the police were
willing to see how far people would go. They talk about zero tolerance
now but at that demonstration there were people dancing on the top of
police vans, kicking the roof and the police were just filming them.
Some friends and I then decided that on behalf of the Freedom of Speech
Movement and the peaceful protesters in general, we'd make an apology.
The Thursday afterwards a whole load of us went down to the Cenotaph
and laid flowers. I was so glad we did that; I just wish it had got as
much publicity as the event itself.

Lucy: The First March Against The Criminal Justice Act or "Freedom To
Party"

This was my first protest and I arrived at it along a personal path of
realisation. Growing up in the countryside, I didn't have the same
exposure to peer pressure or advertising. I spent a lot of time on my
own and was never told what to think so when something comes along
which threatens that independence then it's time for me to get my
dancing boots on and declare what I think. And I did, in the fountains
at Trafalgar Square. We had three sound systems playing happy techno
and it was a beautiful sunny day, which was a good job as the tiles in
the fountain are really slippery and I ended up flat on my back and
soaking wet! I remember looking out and seeing huge men in ball-gowns
and big boots dancing with police officers who were playing along with
it. We were all just having some fun.

Terry: May Day 2001

"Why be a sinner when you can team up with Jesus and be winners?" They
said that the demonstrations were eclectic and disjointed but I don't
think anyone anticipated the arrival of Terry, the Liverpudlian
preacher with a mega-phone harnessed to his chest. Terry wasn't telling
us to boycott shops or assemble for revolution, instead he strutted
around the crowd extolling the virtues of Jesus Christ and of
authority. Somewhat of an anomaly but perhaps he had an important point
to make. After all:
"We don't want anarchy in the world, we want love in the world. If we
had a bit more love and a bit less anarchy it would be a better world.
The Devil wants anarchy, God wants love and that's why we need Jesus
Christ in our lives today."
He was a small man with a cheeky wide-boy manner and if I didn't know
his religious persuasions, I might be worried he was about to steal my
car stereo. There wasn't much chance of that though, not considering
the consequences:
"We all have to appear before the judge in the seat of God one day to
answer him for all the wrong we've done and that's why we need Jesus
Christ in our lives today. Those that team up with Jesus will make it
to Heaven and those that reject Jesus will end up in Hell when you die.
The more lies you tell, the worse it gets up there when you die. That's
why we need Jesus in our lives today".
Fearlessly, he addressed the police and protesters with equal panache
and utter sincerity. But we knew whose side he was really on as he
directed this praise towards the police cordon:
"You'll be protected, God's on your side. If you don't respect
authority then you're not respecting God. Now you might not be
Christians but you've got God's authority to protect us from evil and
that's why we need Jesus in today's world".
His swagger was remarkable, as were his cool, lyrical pronouncements
about Our Lord. Almost like a rapper, Terry flipped words and doubled
meanings so that Christianity almost became catchy:
"Why be sinners when you can team up with Jesus Christ and be winners?
The more you sin, the less you win. The more you win, the less you sin,
so don't be a sinner when you can be a winner - Alright?"

Lucy: May Day 2001

Lucy decided to dress up in a mermaid costume for this years march. Her
hair was bright purple and her face shimmering silver. Her body was
blue. It tapered into a flurry of sequined scales and at the bottom,
just where her feet may once have been, was the two little fins of a
tail. Lucy chose a mermaid because it's magic lures you, sometimes even
against your will - like spring, which arouses stirrings of sexual
passion that nature makes hard to resist. In fact Lucy has met two of
her previous partners on May Days giving credence to its pagan
significance as the first day of spring - and an excuse to spend a lot
of time in bed. Well Lucy certainly didn't do that, and after three
hours sleep she was at Marylebone Station for the first Critical Mass
liaison at 7.30am. Almost as soon as she arrived she became the face of
the 'Fluffies'. Some photographers asked before they snapped and some
just joined the throng of media surrounding her and her glamorous
costume. She bit into a veggie burger outside McDonalds and the bulbs
started to go. Her intention to fascinate had worked and so had the
campaign to make veggie burgers sexy! She rode on the back of a
courier's bike through the grotty streets of Kings Cross like a queen
in a sea of brown hooded youths and floral pinched country girls. Even
when the rest of us were searched, officers seemed reluctant to tamper
with this mysterious creature.
Unbeknown to us however, this slippery mammal had enchanted the big
bosses as much as the peaceful crowds. When Lucy got off the tube at
Piccadilly Circus a man rushed off after her entranced by her
appearance on the headline news. Would she sing in a band with him?
With a swish of the tail, she vaguely agreed but the glimmer in her eye
left him wondering.
When she joined the chaos of Oxford Street she realised her charm would
be wasted, but instead of being imprisoned in the crush like so many
other innocent bystanders, the mermaid sneaked out. Aided by policeman,
she slipped through the net and the face of the Fluffies was allowed to
go back to the business of spring- time with her blossom unscathed.