The 20 June protest

It is now nine days since the protest on 20 June, and in true George style, I'm shamefully only just getting around to writing about it. There are two reasons for this - one is that despite finishing Uni, I've been backed up with two new creative projects that I've been devoting much of my time to. The other is that a lot of my time at the protest was spent talking to people and finding out about things, and I wasn't sure how much I actually had to say about it, so I've admittedly been procrastinating slightly. Nevertheless, I always write about days of action that I have attended, and write about it I shall.

We started out at the Bank of England on Threadneedle Street at midday on Saturday 20 June, and when I arrived I was excited to find a very large turnout. I'd hoped to meet up with my colleague Aaron whilst I was there, but it turned out that we didn't see each other - whilst that was a shame, it was of course in the long run a good thing, as you want there to be enough people that you can't find people you know! I did meet some very pleasant people there though - I spent around half an hour talking to a very pleasant and informed gentleman by the name of Phil, who told me a great deal about the history of our political system, and discussed some of the finer points of the most powerful figures in Britain today, such as Rupert Murdoch and Jacob Rothschild. There was also an open microphone - I stepped up and spoke for a little while about how I was very pleased to see so many people arriving, but that I hoped that we would not give up after this demonstration, as the pressure needs to be kept up if any social change at all is to be made. (More on that later.)

We walked, we marched, we chanted and I made some new friends. Many people seemed to enjoy the chants that I initiated ('Two! Four! Six! Eight! Tory cuts are very great! Great meaning 'large' or 'immense', we use it in the pejorative sense!' Anyone who watches The Simpsons will recognise that) and it was generally a very pleasant afternoon. After about an hour, I got talking to a couple of very pleasant ladies who are involved with creating political art - this is of course what I do with theatre, so there was a natural bond there. At this point, not very much happened that I am able to write about, because we stopped for a snack and lost the demonstration and we spent the next several hours talking to one another and debating political points - which was beneficial for me, but not very worthy of discussion within a blog.

Eventually, we did catch up with the demonstration, but I felt that it was drawing to a natural conclusion anyway. I talked to a few people, made some more useful contacts, heard speeches in Parliament Square by Jeremy Corbyn and Russell Brand, and then I went home.

It may seem that this isn't very worthy of writing about, and indeed this is certainly not the best blog I've ever written. Why am I writing it? Well, firstly because on an emotional level it is useful as an activist to keep a regular log of the work I have done, and secondly because I think that my experiences may still be useful for anyone keeping track of these things. I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that this demonstration was far more effective than the last one I blogged about. But as I said earlier, this is not enough. No political movement in history has been successful if the people involved quit early enough. As I have said before, I believe that this is where things went wrong with tuition fees. So here is the next event that I encourage people to attend if they can:

Protest: Osborne's Emergency Budget - #EndAusterityNow

George Osborne is going to announce a new emergency budget on 8 July, and you can bet that it will not favour anyone but the super-powerful. So it is very important that the pressure is kept up. It is on a Wednesday, so I realise that it will be difficult for some people to be there. I myself am not sure yet if I will be able to go, but I will if I can.

That's almost the end of this blog, and I apologise for writing it so late. I will just close on one important piece of good news - Lancashire said no to fracking! George is a happy bunny about that.