Cheers from across the pond!
I am currently in London visiting some friends and looking for a job. This afternoon, instead of laying around the flat feeling sorry for myself, or playing ultimate frisbee in Hyde park, I decided to have some fun and partake in some civil disobedience in downtown London...
This afternoon there was a mass protest against proposed changes to the United Kingdom’s National Health System (NHS). The object of the protest was to block all traffic on the Westminster Bridge (the one next to Big Ben and Parliament) for five hours, demanding that the House of Lords vote down a bill that takes the first steps in turning the NHS into a private, market based, for-profit system. The bill is the brainchild of the Tories (conservatives) who currently lead a coalition government with the (spineless) Liberal Democrats. It was written and passed under the guise of cutting waste and modernizing the NHS system, which is (supposedly) hemorrhaging money and requires spending cuts to keep it operational (where have we heard that before?).
As a visitor to the UK, I am no expert on the nuts and bolts of the bill or the mechanics of the NHS. In fact, I learned about the entire fiasco just a few days ago after reading a poster outside the neighborhood food co-op. The buzz on the street is that the bill will allow hospitals to be sold to private corporations, the staff put on private payrolls and beds given over to private patients. While this is nothing new to those of us with a navy blue passport, this is a big deal in a country where free, socialized healthcare has been available since the end of World War II. Instead of getting into the gritty details, here is a well written post on the Guardian’s website with a summary of the bill and some of its possible ramifications.
To hear about the protest, follow me below the fold...
Today was partially cloudy, but rather warm. I took the 243 bus from Shoreditch Canal to Waterloo station and walked for about thirty minutes through Westminster district to get to the bridge. About 1:30, slowly meandering behind a group of Spanish tourists, I approached the majestic Big Ben and gothic British Parliament. As soon as I passed Parliament Square, I was under the constant gaze of neon-yellow clad policeman who were posted every five meters along the fence, suspiciously checking me out as I grinned at them and said "good day."
At the base of the bridge, there were parked about twelve armored vehicles almost completely blocking access to foot traffic to the other side. I managed to squeeze between the vehicles, towards the hum of the protest, but was then confronted by two lines of police, standing shoulder to shoulder, with their gaze fixed on a small group of protesters dressed in bloody hospital scrubs sitting on the pavement twenty meters in front of them, chanting "Whose NHS? -- Our NHS!" I slipped through the police lines, and walked towards the crowds on the center of the bridge. There were a approximately 2,000 people split into about three main groups centered around large banners. One group was situated near a table handing out socialist literature, with a bicycle generating electricity for a small PA system. Another group was mostly dressed in hospital scrubs, milling around an enormous banner crossing most of the bridge that said "Save Our NHS". The third, and largest, group was in the dead center of the bridge, under a banner that said "Occupy London General Assembly," a primer for the Occupy London protests scheduled to begin next Saturday, the 15th of October.
Underneath the banner, a few people with megaphones were hyping the crowd with stories from the Occupy Wall Street protests across the United States, the general strikes in Greece, and the ongoing protests in Spain. It was an open forum, allowing anyone who had something to say take their turn addressing the crowd. The general message was, "We are the 99%, corporate interests trump human interests in the eyes of policymakers, this is our revolution...its time our voices were heard." After about thirty minutes of rousing stories, injustice collecting, and calls to action, everyone split into smaller committees of about 10-12 to discuss goals and methods of growing and sustaining the movement.
I sat with a group of students attending various Universities, an activist who had helped organize the (currently ongoing) Occupy Manchester protest, and an old greyhair whose teeth horribly betrayed his nationality. We discussed the forthcoming Occupy London protest, the activist, whom I shall call R., spoke about the some of the tactics used by the police to intimidate protesters in Manchester. Apparently, a group had travelled south to London to help block the bridge, but were recognized by police in London on tips from the Manchester PD and promptly arrested before they could join the crowd. A stark reminder that the United Kingdom is still the most watched country in the world.
I relayed my own personal experience with the American health care system...the system that left my family on the hook for over fifty thousand dollars after my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. The same system which forced her to go to Mexico to seek oncology treatments at a discount because our family was uninsured. A system so controlled by the parasitic insurance industry that if you lack insurance, a hospital, staffed by doctors who took the Hippocratic Oath, will throw you on the street at the first sign you can't afford to pay their inflated prices. (Yes, I know, I'm a bit bitter.) If she were a UK citizen, under the current system, she would have been given care for the taxes she paid. Although that system is set to change, ergo, the main reason for today's protests.
After about twenty minutes of group discussions, megaphones were passed around to each group so they could announce to the group any ideas or insight they had come up with. When it was our group's turn, R. passed me the megaphone, and I proudly announced to the cheering crowd: "For the revolution to be successfual, the apathy of the youth must be broken. The protests MUST continue. Protect the NHS, trust me, you do not want an AMERICAN system of healthcare." I received a rousing ovation, and passed the megaphone back to R., who shook my hand and thanked me for my input.
After a few more groups presented their manifesto, the “Occupy London General Assembly” dissipated, and joined the other two groups, who were far more focused on the task at hand: using civil disobedience to block the passage and implementation of the NHS bill. There were comedians and musicians at the bicycle powered PA system, entertaining the crowd as people took their turn being a human turbine for social change. At about 5PM, everyone disbanded and peacefully marched off the bridge, to the opposite side of the police blockade I walked through.
I found it interesting that the police decided not to really intervene, until it was time to clear the bridge at 5. I am also disappointed to announce that they did so without arresting 700 people for dubious reasons. Scotland Yard is not known for their passivity (are any police departments?), but in this case they definitely proved to have far more class than the NYPD (not just because of their accents).
Tomorrow, I will join a meeting in Russell Square, the student center in London, to help act as a liaison between the Occupy London movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement, since I will be flying to NYC on Tuesday to join the mother-protest. A couple of organizers of this event requested I attempt to set up a live feed between the two protests, so that a sense of solidarity can be established beyond a merely philosophical level. Since I have yet to join the OWS protests, I am unsure if I will be able to pull it off, but I will definitely try (maybe I will run into MoT and get to shake his hand for being a badass).
I will conclude with a general thought about the Occupy XXXX movement. It seems to be a very sincere, yet confused movement. Everyone attending the protests seems to have a good general idea of what they are protesting against, as in, they know it when they see it, but when it comes to actually articulating their grievances the message is varied and muddled. This has to change. One of the main reasons that conservative ideologies have had such success over the past thirty years is their ability to drive home a central message. The “left” side of the political spectrum encompasses such a wide variety of opinion and ideology, that when push comes to shove, the lack of a central message makes it appear weak and fragmented. For these protests to truly find success, their needs to be a stronger central message, otherwise, those who don’t usually give a damn…will continue to not give a damn. Unfortunately, they are part of the 99%, but either don’t think they are or simply don’t care. This has to change. (Thankfully the tea-party has recently begun to show the cracks in the “right-wing” ideological hammer, hopefully they actually break it.)
The message MUST focus on the preference of government towards corporations (particularly financial) instead of citizens. If it simply becomes an epic proletariat vs bourgeoisie mud wrestling match, the popular sentiment will turn against the movement as MSM pundits use the squawkbox to discredit it.
I apologize if this post has lost focus (another casualty of the movement?), the pub I am sitting in has filled up and a cute blonde in a black blouse two tables down has been staring my way for the past thirty minutes. The heffe-wiessen I’ve been drinking has kicked in, and my biological priorities are beginning to overtake my intellectual ones. I will follow up with another post from NYC, from the heart of the protest. I encourage the DKos community to offer support and coverage of the Occupy London protests beginning next weekend. London is the world’s “other” major financial center, and is just as important in terms of influence as Wall Street. The large banks, whose extraordinary gambling problem bankrupted us all, need to be confronted brought to bear the consequences of their actions. Only we, the people, can make this happen.
Mon Oct 10, 2011 at 4:25 AM PT: Everyone should scroll down to read the comment by Lib Dem FoP. It offers far more background and insight than I can.
Mon Oct 10, 2011 at 9:28 AM PT: Link to a few of my photos from the protest. Check it out!
Photos