There are days when I’d like to be in two different places at the same time, with events I’d like to cover at the same time, and Saturday 17th November was one of them – though it was actually six places at the same time, with XR (Extinction Rebellion) blocking five bridges.
Well away from the river at BBC Broadcasting House, people were gathering for a march to show unity against racism and fascism, organised by Stand Up To Racism, co-sponsored by Unite Against Fascism and Love Music Hate Racism.
The march was prompted by the rising threat of Islamophobia and Antisemitism by far-right groups in the UK, particularly the several aspects of the Football Lads Association, with a level of support for fascism not seen in Britain since the 1930s. The rise of the FLA (or the DFLA – the D standing for Democratic, though it’s unclear what this means) and marches to ‘Free Tommy’ who was arrested for action that could have prejudiced a criminal trial of pedophiles but which hi-jacked the idea of ‘Free Speech’ have angered many as well as emboldening and encouraging others to commit anti-semitic and anti-Muslim acts.
Broadcasting House has become a popular starting place for marches, as well as a venue for protests outside in recent years partly because of the BBC coverage of some political events, but mainly for its lack of coverage of domestic protests. While those overseas often get well covered, any taking place in this country are usually ignored. Making them start outside the BBC where reporters and editors can’t help but notice them hasn’t actually increased the BBC coverage, but it does make clearer what side the BBC are on, and their policy of minimising coverage of any domestic dissent.
I got held up taking pictures on Blackfriars Bridge, waiting for something that didn’t happen, and despite running much of the way from there to Waterloo Bridge, by the time I was sitting on the tube on my way to Broadcasting House I realised the march would already have started. So instead I alighted at Piccadilly Circus and walked up Regent Street to meet it, not far south of Oxford Circus.
I stayed in roughly the same position as the march went past, moving back and forth and slowly down towards Piccadilly as I took pictures until the end of the march came in sight. With probably 10,000 people on the march, this took around 30 minutes before I could jump back onto the tube to go to Westminster. I went back onto the bridge and photographed things happening there for a while rather than go up Whitehall for the rally at the end of the march.
I had expected the march to be rather larger, more like the organisers’ estimate, but the protest taking place on the bridges possibly took a thousand or two away. But perhaps marches like this which attract little or no attention and seem to have no effect need to be rethought, with more imaginative protests like those by Extinction Rebellion taking their place.
Unity Against Fascism and Racism
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