IS THIS THE "SUMMER OF RAGE"?

Those hoping for a revolution may feel short-changed. Britain's so-called “summer of rage” seems rather affable and dignified, if Saturday’s "Put People First" rally in London is anything to go by. There may be anger in the air, but suggestions that things ahead of this week’s G20 Summit could turn nasty have been thwarted, so far.

Instead London was awash with colour over the weekend as around 35,000 protesters marched under a loose banner of "jobs, justice and climate". The melange of demonstrators included die-hards from the Socialist Workers Party, climate-change activists from Avaaz.org (in green hard-hats), free-trade advocates dressed as bananas, religious preachers and a gentleman carrying a disarmingly polite flag: “Revolution is inevitable–so why not now?”

In the bustle of the march, I spoke to an elderly gentleman from the World Development Movement. Convinced that the G20 meeting would be nothing more than “a political fudge”, he called for a new economic order in which banks “serviced society, rather than lead it”. Did he intend to take his message directly to the Bank of England on Wednesday? “Oh no. That’s the rough boys picnic,” he explained. “I have an agenda, but it’s not violence.”

There was no shortage of passion on display. And yet the cacophony of demands–some of them contradictory–made it difficult to discern a single message. This, I was told, was the point. “Everything we were told was right about the old economic order has failed,” explained a 43-year-old woman who had travelled from Cumbria for the day. “Everyone is in with a shout now. This is the moment to make your voice heard. When else will politicians be forced to listen?”

What about fears of violence? The supposed anarchists, many of them masked and wearing black hoodies and scarves, walked quietly in a line behind a banner: “Direct Action/Militant Workers Bloc: against redundancies and repossessions.” One carried a sign that drew photographers like vultures: “Class War. Ready to Riot”.

But for today at least, it amounted to little more than a threat. Passing through the Houses of Parliament as a band played and CGT, France’s largest trade union, called for solidarity: this was an upbeat affair.

Some recalled a larger protest in 2003, when over a million people marched a similar route in opposition to the Iraq war. “This feels more like a Saturday afternoon stroll,” complained a 24-year-old student from Brighton. “The only protest voices I’m hearing are coming from the French.”

But things could still get out of control. The march finished at Hyde Park, where a breakaway group of anarchists assembled opposite Speakers Corner, and an impassioned speaker addressed the crowd. “Don't fight the police until you can beat them,” he said, ahead of planned demonstrations this week. “When they're ready for you, don’t fight them. When they're not ready for you, give ‘em a surprise."

~ KUNAL DUTTA

Picture credit: fabbio (via Flickr)