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Anti war protests and actions GLASGOW ANTI WAR PROTEST- 15th February 2003 (report from 'inflatable jesus', u75, Glasgow) The whole thing didn't start particularly well. I ended up sleeping in a bit this morning due to a last minute piss up the night before, which sadly, was also responsible for the absence of one of the prearranged protesting party. He went looking for weed at 1am last night and never came back. So it was down to me and my brother Liam to stop the war on our own. We arrived in Glasgow just in time to catch the march leaving from Glasgow Green. Leading the pack was an open topped double decker with (I think) a lesbian drumming band that I remember from a faslane protest a while ago. There was a fucking massive crowd following waving SNP, Daily Mirror and Socialist Worker placards, various drum beating hippies, women pushing prams and a surprising amount of just average gadgies like ourselves. 
We decided that we couldn't be arsed waiting for the end of the parade so we just steamed right in, following the crowd up past glasgow cross. There was a huge cheer from the assembled Trotskyites as the march headed past George square and we saw the first of many cameras pointed at us from the journalists. It was at this point that I began to resent the presence of the mass produced SNP and SW placard and started to regret not bringing something of my own for the cameras. So we hit upon a masterstroke. We ducked out of the march and headed down to the art shop outside the modern art gallery. We bought a large sheet of cardboard and a fat red pen and (for want of anything clever or funny to write) decided to go with 'URBAN75 ANARCHIST BABY-EATERS SAY- FUCK WAR!'. It was going to be 'FUCK THE WAR' but, um, I ran out of space.
So, we rejoined the march and found ourselves next to a bunch of young asian kids shouting 'Sharon - terrorist, George Bush - terrorist' and carrying little Palestinian flags. The were absolutely excellent. It was fun for a while watching the other people turn round and mouth out the words on our placard and either walk away looking confused or burst out laughing. It was, however, a bit difficult to hold up properly, so Liam suggested attacking some of the hippies and stealing their poles to hold it up with. That was when I had my second masterstroke. I took out my red pen and wrote on the back 'COULD ANYONE GIVE US SOME POLES?'. Within a couple of minutes, a guy tapped me on the shoulder and handed me two poles for the banner! It was sweet as fuck! Liam swore blind that the guy who gave us them only had one leg so we decided to refer to him as 'one legged franky'.
We ducked out again to find a shop that sold sellotape and figured that we would have to sprint to not lose the end of the march, but when we got back ten minutes later the march was still snaking it's way up the hill and stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions. When we rejoined, we scribbled out the request for poles and wrote 'the baby eating anarchists would like to thank one legged Franky for his support with the sign'. A fitting tribute to a diamond geezer we thought. The diversity of the crowd continued to amaze me, you had the asylum groups next to aging hippies next to students next to communists next to middle age middle class couples next to some pakistani guys holding up a banner accusing george bush of being on crack. The march up was great. A crusty with a bongo read the sign and told me that I should wash my mouth out with soap. So I called him a hippy and told him to fuck off, in the best possible spirits of course.
When we reached the SEC, where Blair had sneakily done his speech several hours earlier, the sight was just amazing. The crowd was fucking massive (90,000 the police apparently confirmed) and full of colour and life. The drums were miked up and there was a really nice party atmosphere before the speeches started. It's times like this that I tend to get melodramatic. I become inclined to talk about the commonly held belief that humans are inherently selfish and apathetic. If you ever want an example of the innate good in humanity, it was here today for everyone to see. It's millions of people standing up to authority and saying FUCK YOU! to our supposed leaders on behalf of the powerless. It's people recognising our common humanity and common struggles against the people in power'. But then that would be getting carried away. I was really proud of my city today though. And I was proud to be there » Stop the War Glasgow report 1 « back to home page |
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