Brighton Says No

Once again the main stream media has completely ignored a significant demonstration. The march, beginning at the Angel of Peace statue on Brighton seafront, brought the city to a standstill. 

The crowd was small to begin with, which gave me the wonderful opportunity of meeting some notable freedom fighters. I spoke to Remeece (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwDIBrpuxzA), Ollie ("Free Hugs guy") and other recognisable people who it was a real privilege to interact with and stand together in the same cause. I also spoke to an observer who was interested in the gathering - to his credit, he listened and asked some intelligent questions, but he told me that while he was sympathetic to the cause, he wouldn't bother protesting because it "doesn't affect him". He breaks the rules and isn't worried about spreading covid, but lockdown is not harming him so he won't protest. I told him, "that's like saying you wouldn't stand up for gay rights because you're not gay, or black rights because you're not black. Just because it doesn't affect you doesn't mean it's not wrong.", and he replied "yeah, I probably wouldn't stand up for them either.". Which was honest, if nothing else. Nonetheless it astounded me to be conversing with someone so self-centred and cold, lacking all empathy, who appeared to be otherwise completely reasonable. His position also seemed fairly short-sighted to me; the lockdown may not be affecting him yet, but the continuation of these measures will impact everyone eventually. 

As the march began, stragglers and smaller groups converged and the procession proved much larger than I had anticipated by the static crowd size. Our best estimate for numbers so far is 2500-3000, which for a single-city protest is an impressive turnout. We moved through streets with outdoor dining, and I was amused to see that certain customers were piously disapproving, apparently unaware that they were seated in a crowd of maskless strangers almost as dense as ours. Some spectators were highly aggressive, with a woman snatching one young man's megaphone and throwing it, and one person throwing eggs out of their window. It seems surreal to me that people can be so obsessively supportive of having their rights oppressed that they will commit violence against those who peacefully demonstrate dissent. On the other hand, some observers waved, smiled, and gave thumbs-up while drivers beeped and a bus driver was shaking hands with people as we passed. The crowd paused at the BBC building, adding stickers to their windows and chanting "shame on you". The message to the general public was less abrasive. The usual calls to "take off your mask" or "ask questions" were heard, and I walked a few times with the fantastically lively and spirited James O'Brien who had brought a megaphone to get the message to the people: "we love you!". I find that when I attend protests the best experience comes from positive messages, despite the anger and pain that we are all understandably feeling - which is why I enjoyed walking alongside someone who was communicating compassion to observers and even police (who I'd like to acknowledge were highly efficient in escorting our march and helping us to ensure that no one came to harm).

At the end of the march we convened once again at the Angel of Peace statue, and those who had led the front of the march were standing on the steps, speaking to the crowd. They invited others to come up to the megaphone, including a nurse in her uniform who spoke about her experience. Encouraged by my friends, I also took the opportunity to address the crowd, and I spoke about the underlying, uniting factor of our cause - regardless of potential motives or plans, lockdown is wrong because it does more harm than good. My short message was met with a lovely appreciative response, and it felt unexpectedly energising to know that people were listening and supporting me. I spoke to more wonderful people as the crowd dispersed, including someone who had seen the demonstration go past his window and waved to us in support then joined when he could. As the crowd dispersed he joined my friends and me for the evening and we gained both an interesting friend and a brilliant tour guide! 

Having attended gatherings since March ranging between 700,000 people and 20 people, I'm starting to think that this mass hospitalisation people predict on Twitter every time is never going to happen. No spike in cases has been reported after any of these occasions. Perhaps we need to try harder - hug more people, shake more hands, talk to more people. Maybe then we'll see a spike. Or maybe the majority of people just aren't at risk and covid-19 has been blown out of proportion. 

Britain has stubbed its toe and the government are hacking off both legs with a blunt saw and no anaesthesia. It's unnecessary and it's causing immeasurable volumes of pain. It ends when we say NO!