Four thousand march against the Tories in Bristol
Linda Nunn •A demo against austerity in Bristol yesterday, organised by local students on Facebook, was a big success. Linda Nunns reports.
Today something happened in Bristol that nobody predicted. A group of students started a Facebook group a couple of days ago to organise a protest against austerity and to “get the Tories out”. 4,000 people said they were attending. I felt I had to go but with a cynicism that says social media can never replace old school political organisation. I expected 50 people. The most amazing demo transpired.
People flocked to the fountains, no-one seemed to know where we were going or who had organised it. The march went up Park Street (student area) back down to the centre (lots of commuters) through the town (lots of onlookers) and up to Castle Park for a rally. Interestingly this is a different route to previous trade union demos which have a shorter, more established route.
This route was visible, dynamic, impromtu and had impact. I did a rough count on Park Street and there were about 3,500 – so by the end it was indeed 4,000. What was different about this demo was how young it was. I hardly knew anyone – and that’s a good thing! The people marching were young, diverse, dynamic, loud, lively and seemingly new to politics – but certainly angry.
Interestingly the chants were old school but unfinished: “people united will never be defeated”; “students and workers unite and fight”; “defend the NHS”; “leave our human rights alone”. They knew the problems but possibly not the solutions. I have seen nothing like this in Bristol since the student protests in 2011.
The traditional parties were swamped. They didn’t organise it. They didn’t speak at the rally. The rally wasn’t political – in that there was no way forward – but a call to get involved in local campaigns. This has to be the way forward – community campaigns, housing activism, pressure on our Labour and Green councillors to oppose the cuts and relating to issues that affect young people. This could be the start of a new movement, without the constraints of the old left – it should be taken seriously.
4 comments
This may be the way forward as the young decide to fight back their way. Perhaps its the ‘Poll Tax. upheaval all over again and we know what happened then! Go for it. @
Thank goodness we live in a democracy where people can peacefully protest and march for their beliefs. However, the Conservatives were fairly elected by a country who didn’t want Labour. To try and “get the Tories out” by any other means other than by voting them out in five years time is undemocratic and could lead to anarchy.
Democracy. Living under the control of a government almost 70% of the nation voted against.
It’s great that these spontaneous demo’s occur. I was involved in the student protests in 2011 but unfortunately they didn’t develop into a sustainable movement. I think the reason why is that far from rejecting the so-called “mainstream” left and completely reinventing the activist wheel we need to make the traditional left more accountable. Without involving those in Labour who want to fight and thousands who are already members of left organisations then so-called “spontaneous” movements will not sustain themselves. The student protests involved many who were members of left organisations and I seriously doubt this was not the case in Bristol. Creating an unnecessary and unhelpful division between the so called “old left” and new activists not only ignores this factor but it doesn’t necessarily ensure the development of new democratic forms of organisation either.