I am marching against the rise of the Far Right in the UK in London on Saturday. Like you I have marched a lot. My first major one was Rock Against Racism in 1978, one of the best days of my life. To be with so many wonderful people walking all the way from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Park in Hackney where THE CLASH played. Just on Monday I was at a small protest here against a Reform MP who had come down to Hastings for the day to beat up support. The Green party head of the Council stood up and said 'We all thought it was sorted at Rock Agaisnt Racism in 1978, yet here we are again...'. I am a little disillusioned with it all, having gone on three or four protests againt Brexit and it still happened. Last summer I walked against the water companies, and they are still running their toxic monopolies. Sadly, I fear our witty crafted signs just put off the people who vote for Trump and Reform - they are symbolic of our smug tertiary-educated middle-class intelligensia liberal beings. Everything they despise. They dislike us as much as they dislike immigrants. But I'm still going to march.
Let's send good protesting vibes across the ocean, Maggie. I don't really care about being liked by the sort of people who will judge me one way or another on my level of education - if that's their scale of human value, then that says it all, I'd say. If we've made each other laugh, that's a win, and I'm planning to laugh a lot on Saturday ...
Since we last chatted I have been to the dentist TWICE. I thought of you knowing you KNOW. I have several more visits to go..........aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggh. It's only made bearable because I really like my lady dentist.
Oh, I'm so sorry, Maggie. I'm in the same sad boat myself, and am only cheered by the knowledge that what I had thought to be my aged back teeth drifting irreversibly apart was actually a broken crown, and that when that is fixed I'll be able to eat comfortably again. (Yesss!) I hope you're demanding drugs - I sure as shootin' am ...
I'd actually forgotten the caterpillar! My thought had been that maybe the Cheshire Cat had come up with a stash of his own, so it appears as how Alice was one happy girl. Glad you liked the piece and let's send good No Kings vibes across this wide and weird city ...
My partner told me she'd spent the day at the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in the 80s. This ran for nearly 20 years, protesting the use of the airbase there for nuclear missiles.
Kudos to your partner, Bob. I'd forgotten Greenham Common, but I do remember Auberon Waugh in Private Eye as being particularly virulent about the women protesting there. Threatened, much?
My first protest was for Farm Workers rights with the Cesar Chavez movement. Well, that pillar came toppling down this week and yet the Abuser-in-Chief remains in a position to topple the entire world! I have a stash of all purpose placards behind my china cabinet for use at any moment. From the original "Show us your Loop Holes" to an innocuous "Women are watching"...evolving to "This guy is INSANE!" Thank you for marching, we will overcome.
I hope you're keeping a record of them, Lorraine. When I was a student, I found in our family attic a couple of original women's suffrage posters from the 1910s, which I took back to college and blu-tacked to my wall until they fell apart. If I'd kept them safe, I could probably make some money from them now; but what really makes me want to time-travel back to throttle my young self is that it never ONCE occurred to me to try to find out who in my family had owned them and what her involvement in suffrage had been. God, I was an annoying young woman! But we shall overcome, indeed ...
I love this post so much and love hearing how you've used your voice to stand up for not only your rights, but for the rights of others. Thank you for this article and thank you for protesting. I haven't been able to make a No King's protest, but have been protesting in other ways by boycotting orgs that support far-right regimes, wearing t-shirts with messages that are basically my protest signs. I call my representatives often.
It often feels overwhelming, but I remind myself that we can't do everything, but every one of us can do something. No matter where we are. xx
I am marching against the rise of the Far Right in the UK in London on Saturday. Like you I have marched a lot. My first major one was Rock Against Racism in 1978, one of the best days of my life. To be with so many wonderful people walking all the way from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Park in Hackney where THE CLASH played. Just on Monday I was at a small protest here against a Reform MP who had come down to Hastings for the day to beat up support. The Green party head of the Council stood up and said 'We all thought it was sorted at Rock Agaisnt Racism in 1978, yet here we are again...'. I am a little disillusioned with it all, having gone on three or four protests againt Brexit and it still happened. Last summer I walked against the water companies, and they are still running their toxic monopolies. Sadly, I fear our witty crafted signs just put off the people who vote for Trump and Reform - they are symbolic of our smug tertiary-educated middle-class intelligensia liberal beings. Everything they despise. They dislike us as much as they dislike immigrants. But I'm still going to march.
Let's send good protesting vibes across the ocean, Maggie. I don't really care about being liked by the sort of people who will judge me one way or another on my level of education - if that's their scale of human value, then that says it all, I'd say. If we've made each other laugh, that's a win, and I'm planning to laugh a lot on Saturday ...
Since we last chatted I have been to the dentist TWICE. I thought of you knowing you KNOW. I have several more visits to go..........aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggh. It's only made bearable because I really like my lady dentist.
Oh, I'm so sorry, Maggie. I'm in the same sad boat myself, and am only cheered by the knowledge that what I had thought to be my aged back teeth drifting irreversibly apart was actually a broken crown, and that when that is fixed I'll be able to eat comfortably again. (Yesss!) I hope you're demanding drugs - I sure as shootin' am ...
I’ll be at the No Kings Protest Downtown! (FYI: it was the hookah-smoking caterpillar that told Alice about eating the mushroom…) Fun column, thanks.
I'd actually forgotten the caterpillar! My thought had been that maybe the Cheshire Cat had come up with a stash of his own, so it appears as how Alice was one happy girl. Glad you liked the piece and let's send good No Kings vibes across this wide and weird city ...
My partner told me she'd spent the day at the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in the 80s. This ran for nearly 20 years, protesting the use of the airbase there for nuclear missiles.
Kudos to your partner, Bob. I'd forgotten Greenham Common, but I do remember Auberon Waugh in Private Eye as being particularly virulent about the women protesting there. Threatened, much?
A whole generation of kids was born there!
My first protest was for Farm Workers rights with the Cesar Chavez movement. Well, that pillar came toppling down this week and yet the Abuser-in-Chief remains in a position to topple the entire world! I have a stash of all purpose placards behind my china cabinet for use at any moment. From the original "Show us your Loop Holes" to an innocuous "Women are watching"...evolving to "This guy is INSANE!" Thank you for marching, we will overcome.
I hope you're keeping a record of them, Lorraine. When I was a student, I found in our family attic a couple of original women's suffrage posters from the 1910s, which I took back to college and blu-tacked to my wall until they fell apart. If I'd kept them safe, I could probably make some money from them now; but what really makes me want to time-travel back to throttle my young self is that it never ONCE occurred to me to try to find out who in my family had owned them and what her involvement in suffrage had been. God, I was an annoying young woman! But we shall overcome, indeed ...
I love this post so much and love hearing how you've used your voice to stand up for not only your rights, but for the rights of others. Thank you for this article and thank you for protesting. I haven't been able to make a No King's protest, but have been protesting in other ways by boycotting orgs that support far-right regimes, wearing t-shirts with messages that are basically my protest signs. I call my representatives often.
It often feels overwhelming, but I remind myself that we can't do everything, but every one of us can do something. No matter where we are. xx