I’m a supporter of the Coalition of Resistance and I am shocked and appalled with how this government seems to have torn up the social contract with us, the people who elected them as our representatives.
But I’m fatigued. There’s too much being done on too many fronts and I can’t keep up with it all. I’m deeply passionate about the NHS and Personal Identity, about the 38 Degrees, Occupy and UK Uncut movements but it’s difficult to put all my energy and focus into every campaign that’s going, beyond signing the odd petition here and sending innumerable letters to my local (Tory) MP.
And I’ve been on marches, countless marches. It seems to me the only time anyone gets the Government’s attention is when they start a riot. That’s a desperate state of affairs for democracy in this country: I will only be listened to if I directly threaten commerce.
I believe this is where the government is winning its war of attrition with us – it’s splitting the anti vote and rendering us all meaningless.
so how about uniting the entire mass of public opinion behind one campaign, one demo, one single focus of attention?
One Campaign to End Them All
How about we make it a mass Vote of No Confidence in this government, no petitions, no letters, just faces on the street.
And while we’re at it – one angle the press always gets wrong is that it accuses marchers of being “largely union reps” – this is purely and simply because of the placards that are handed out by concerned organisations. They do a good job to give a protest a face but this one should be different, it should have hundreds of thousands of unique faces.
So… No Placards – that is, no TUC, no Socialist Worker. Run a campaign to encourage people to demonstrate their concern and their individuality by making their own placards and banners.
Make a documentary of the day
Film the demo, make pilots and trailers, and most important of all film interviews of ordinary people expressing their concerns.
(Amir Amirani is doing something similar about the Anti-War marches in 2003 – see his trailer for We Are Many here http://www.wearemany.tv/ – and talk to him!)
An official count
Ask people to register their intentions and then send them an E-ticket that can be scanned by your stewards – this will give you both a count of interest and a confirmation of attendance. While you’re at it, invite marchers to post a photo of themselves on the day to a web site (like the Oxfam Million Faces anti-weapons site). Count them on the day – produce an official figure, not an estimate, not a police count or a BBC estimate but the official figure. This can be ratified if a majority of people post themselves up to the web site. This may not be everyone who attends but I’ll bet my career it will be a higher number than is officially declared.
Do this and we can collectively send a message to the Government that for once they cannot ignore.