t-shirts | >Re-PHOTO

Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion – 2016

Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion: On Saturday 1st October 2016 I made my way from Hatton Cross Station with protesters to Terminal 2 after we were informed that this was where the planned ‘#StayGrounded‘ flashmob protest organised by Reclaim The Power was to start shortly.

Although the location had been kept secret before the event, and most of the several hundred protesters told to gather at the underground station, Heathrow security seem to be expecting us when we arrived and the Departures lounge and had obviously decided to treat the event with a minimum of intervention so as not to give it greater publicity.

Security watched the protest standing around the area where it was taking place and only stopping protesters when they tried to go in further to the check-in area, but otherwise making no attempt to stop the protest or prevent me and the other press photographing it.

I sat somewhat uneasily in the departures lounge, discretely photographing the protesters, many of whom had come with suitcases and bags to blend in with the passengers until red handkerchiefs have the signal for the protest to begin.

When it did come the protesters quickly moved into the open space and staged a die-in, some opening their jackets to reveal ‘No Third Runway’ t-shirts.

Others took out aprons from their luggage and stood with the message ‘Climate Change Has A Death Toll’.

People began to loudly read out information about the effects on climate of air travel.

Some taking part in the die-in had brought posters and held them on their chests and others wore medical face masks to point out the pollution caused by air traffic and road traffic bringing fliers to the airport.

The readings continued and a group of protesters dressed as ‘frequent fliers’ in business suits apparently waiting to catch a plane became increasingly restive at being held up by the protests.

Some of the ‘frequent flyers’ began to move forward stepping over the protesters to reach the ‘High Polluters Club Frequent Flyer VIP Check-in’ which had been set up for them.

There they sipped champagne (from empty glasses to comply with airport restrictions), chatted idly and held up large cartoon ‘speech bubbles’ with messages including “When People have to fight to breathe clean air, the government is not fit for purpose“, “‘I got £100K bonus this year“, “I’m one of the 15% who make 70% of flights” and “I‘m flying to my 2nd home in France“.

Next came some songs specially written for the occasion which unfortunately I didn’t record and then some dances, with an an aviation version of ‘Ring a-Ring of Roses’ which of course ends with everyone falling down.

At the end of the protest came a special version of ‘Auld Lang Syne‘ against airport expansion and a little more dancing before we all left the terminal.

I took a few pictures on the way out, then went to the bus station to catch a local bus to Terminal 5 from where I could get a bus home.

But as well as the protest inside the airport I had photographed, there had also been a protest by cyclists which had been met with a huge reaction from the police, disrupting traffic for miles around and leading to wide diversions. My bus was diverted by the M4 and M25 taking over twice as long as normal.

Many more pictures on My London Diary: Heathrow flashmob against airport expansion.

Heathrow expansion is now back on the table, although only if it can be shown to be consistent with our climate change obligations. Of course there is no real chance that it ever can be, but often things like this have been fudged to allow things to happen – Heathrow itself only came about on the basis of lies that it was needed for military use. And a very significant part of this fudging is the recent Draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement published in June 2026 and the proposal to prioritise hub airport capacity and national economic growth as ‘Critical National Growth Infrastructure’.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

March for a People’s Olympics – 2012

March for a People’s Olympics: Twelve years ago on Saturday 28th June 2012 the London Olympics was in full swing and London was suffering from huge restrictions on the activities of ordinary Londoners.

Although the modern Olympic movement was started in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin with high aims it has changed over the years to something very different. He intended them to help build a peaceful and better world by educating young people through sport and stated “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

Instead what we now have is a fiercely nationalistic event, with countries devoting huge resources into training a small elite of athletes and expenisve and highly detailed scientific research to find legal ways to enhance their performances – as well as at least in some countries to find ways to circumvent the tests designed to prevent the use of illegal drugs.

The games have also seen a corporate takeover to provide some of the huge sums needed to stage such events, although taxpayers have also suffered. London 2012 cost £8.77 billion, around three and a half times its original budget, around two thirds from general taxation, a quarter from the National Lottery and the remainder from the Mayor of London and the London Development Agency.

The money for the games in London meant there was less to spend in other areas or the country, and even diverted money from grass roots sport. And huge amounts were spent on infrastructure designed for the needs of a few weeks in 2012 rather than the best interests of the future for the Olympic area.

London in 2012 saw a huge military presence, in part aimed at reducing the risk of terrorist attacks and draconian policing largely aimed at the protection of the brands of the various sponsors.

The ‘Whose Games? Whose City?’ protest had at first been totally banned by the authorities as its start point was only just over 2km from the Olympic stadium. Transport for London had refused permission for them to march along roads which had been designated as emergency backup Games routes. Eventually the march organisers came to an agreement with the police that should an emergency arise the marchers would simply go on to the pavement – something that regularly happens with marches when ambulances and other emergency vehicles are allowed to pass.

The endpoint of the march, Wennington Green, was also around 2km as the crow flies from the stadium, and Tower Hamlets Council, owners of Wennington Green attempted to ban speeches or other events there.

Marchers were also threatened with arrest should they display placards, hold banners or even wear t-shirts with political slogans. But on the day there were no arrests although police did at one point stop and search a man who had cut a piece of police tape. He was released after a large and noisy crowd of marchers gathered around and demanded his release.

The attempts by the authorities to stop the march taking place had led to a great deal of media publicity and press and TV from around the world came to cover the start in Mile End Park.

The march organisers, the Counter Olympics Network (CON) pointed out strongly that this was not an anti-Olympics march, but one that protested at the way what should be a sporting event of noble origins has been taken over by corporate interests.

They pointed out that the games sponsors included “serial polluters, companies which seriously damage the environment and which wreck or take lives, Coca Cola, Rio Tinto, BP, Dow Chemical” as well as stating “G4S, Cisco, and Atos deny people their human rights in a variety of situations while Macdonalds helps to fuel the obesity epidemic. London2012 provides benefits at taxpayers’ expense while receiving little in return.”

They also pointed out the many broken promises and pointed out the doubts about the legacy of the games for East London in particular: “the lack of benefits for local people and businesses, the fantastic expansion of security into our daily lives, the deployment of missiles and large numbers of troops, the unwarranted seizure of public land at Wanstead Flats, Leyton Marsh and Greenwich Park.“

As the march went past the former match factory soldiers on top of the flats watched the marchers who chanted
“Hey Ho, Sebastian Coe
Get your missiles out of Bow“

Another popular chant also mentioned Coe:
“Seb Coe, Get Out, we know what you’re all about!
Missiles, job losses, Olympics for the bosses!”

Chris Nineham of the Stop The Olympic Missiles Campaign was one of the first speakers at the final rally. He pointed out that the London Olympics had already set a number of records, including the largest ever number of arrests on the first day – including 182 cyclists taking part in a ‘Critical Mass’ ride the previous day – the highest ticket prices, the most intensive application of branding rules and the highest level of militarisation of any Olympic games, with far more being spent on security that even in China.

There were, he said, more troops in London than at any time since World War 2, and more than at any time in Afghanistan, and that it was our presence there which made us a terrorist target, calling for the immediate withdrawal of our troops.

Much more about the protest and many more pictures at March for a People’s Olympics.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

St Valentine’s Day – Reclaim Love 6, 2009

St Valentine’s Day – Reclaim Love: St Valentine was a Roman Christian, possibly a bishop, who was known for his ministry to Christians who were under persecution by the Roman Empire and was martyred and buried near Rome possibly on February 14th 269 AD. Wikipedia has a lengthy entry which goes into the various other St Valentines and the legends associated with him.

The 14th February was established as the Feast of St Valentine of Rome by the then Pope in AD 496 and much later the celebration was also taken up by both Lutheran and Anglican churches. The day was dropped from the official Roman Catholic list in 1969.

The legends which associate St Valentine with romantic love came much later, probably beginning in the age of Chaucer in the late 14th century and invented by him and others around him. With many variations he was said to have fallen in love with the blind daughter of his jailer and shortly before he was executed to have cured her blindness and to have sent her a note. Like in the later traditions of Valentines cards this one was signed simply: “from your Valentine.”

St Valentine as well as being associated with lovers is also the patron saint of epileptics and beekeepers and those suffering mental illnesses and doubtless there are or were legends associated with these too. Parts allegedly of him are kept as relics in churches in Rome, Madrid, Dublin and around a dozen other places around Europe, including in the Gorbals in Glasgow and Birmingham Oratory.

The Reclaim Love Valentine street parties around the statue we wrongly call Eros at Piccadilly Circus were started by the remarkable Irish poet and activist Venus CuMara. They took place on the Saturday closest to the 14th and in 2009 it was actually on the 14th. In this post are a few of the pictures I took on 14th Feb 2009 at the party, and the text I wrote about the event.

This was the sixth annual Valentine Party at Piccadilly Circus, around the statue of Eros, organised by Venus to celebrate “to celebrate the Greatest thing on Earth and the Greatest thing we have inside…Yes, Love!!!” and it was the largest yet, filling the area around with people.

As well as the party at Picadilly Circus, at least 15 similar events were taking place around the world, in Ireland, France, Luxembourg, Iceland, Finland, Italy, Spain, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand …

The climax to the event was when all of those present formed a giant circle linking hands in the “Historic Annual Earth Healing Circle.” But for several hours we all enjoyed ourselves, dancing to the samba rhythms of resistance and other music, and enjoying the company of other people and remembering what is really important, not just on Valentine’s day but the whole of the year.

Eros may be dominated by those huge neon advertising hoardings the other 354 days of the year, but for one day at least it was surrounded by people dedicated to showing that the best things in life really are free

There are many more pictures on My London Diary at Reclaim Love 6

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos