Friday 20 March 2009

Is it safe?



Much in the style of Larry Olivier in the excellent scene from Marathon Man, I am asking: “Is it safe?” before I write this article. These days, one can’t be too careful, even out of the public eye, when writing or talking about the peccadilloes of one’s past. A careless tweet here, a casual Facebook update there, and – Dooce! – you’re out of a job and on a blacklist quicker than spit. It’s worse than those little bastards who grassed on their dad (Parsons, I think it was) in 1984, I tells ya.

But, I figure that the readership (no offence intended to the small but heart-warmingly loyal band who do regularly read my nonsense) of this particular outpost of the internet doesn’t put me at too much risk, so I aim to talk about the forthcoming demonstrations for the G20, which are planned for April Fool’s Day, and which are coincidentally taking place on the same day as the new contract for services at my place of work commences.
That should be a fun day. I’ve seen some stuff which makes for interesting reading, with the protests set to follow the theme of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and focusing on the areas of War (follow the Red horse) Climate Chaos (follow the Green horse) Homelessness (follow the Black horse) and Money Crime (follow the Silver horse) Personally, I would have had the black horse symbolising money crime, but what do I know? I’m fully prepared for some form of direct action to strike one or other of the offices for which I’m responsible, and will at the very least be avidly watching the news that evening.
Sadly, I won’t be participating. Not this time. I saw on the Beeb today that Plod expects to see some of the groups from the 90s resurfacing for the demo. Such luminaries of the crusty world as the WOMBLES and – my particular favourite in the anarcho-syndicalist world – Reclaim the Streets. And this is where the risk of Thought Crime (or blog crime, I guess) and a big fat Dooce comes in. For I myself am an alumnus of the RTS movement, having attended the Shepherd’s Bush party in 1996 and the Tottenham High Road one in 1998. What a cracker that was. I lived in the area at the time, and it was a truly amazing experience to see one of the streets where I lived turned into a mad rave.
Don’t tell anyone though, will you?

3 comments:

English Marie said...

Was it in 1996? oh dear!

Myeral said...

Time flies. I remember Gary singing Abba songs at the police.

English Marie said...

yes that was under a bridge. And i remember the sofas and armachairs everywhere.. But it wasn't 96