St. Peter’s Square

The pandemic preoccupying and dominating the public’s consciousness, many more fundamental issues are in danger of being overlooked. So Global Justice Now, along with Trade Unions, War on Want, Traidcraft and others called for a national Day of Action on Saturday 24th. October, looking for images to use in publicity and for a photo petition as well as to raise awareness in the general population.

The threatened trade deal has numerous strands, all of which threaten our institutions, our standards and our democracy. They are even more dangerous to people in the Global South. If the UK’s acceptance is rolled out as a benchmark of what is required to trade with the dominant economic powers. In Manchester, we united with allies and made several outings to protest the deal. We also invited people to send in and post photos of themselves, their dogs, homes and associates with the message “Stop the US Trade Deal”.

Thursday (22nd. Oct.) saw us in Chorlton, exploiting the wide pavement outside Oxfam on Wilbraham Road and using a simple quiz-display to stimulate engagement with questions on US standards in food hygiene (how many rat hairs are allowed in 25g of cinnamon), permitted insecticide residues allowed on apples, toxic ingredients banned in cosmetics, and the expected cost of the 50 most expensive medicines used in primary care. This proved an excellent way of engaging people. Unusually we didn’t have cards to sign but the excellent flyer GJN had produced gives a link to an e-action and we had a QR code for those who wanted to find out more with their mobile phones. Footfall was disappointing, but with a higher than usual percentage engaging.

Next day we focused on the threat to democratic authorities taking action to stop climate change and joined with War on Want, Fridays for the Future, and Greater Manchester Campaign Against Climate Change’s normal vigil outside the Central Library.

Even the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst joined the protest, reminding Boris Johnson of his commitment on climate change, “We must act now, right now … extinction is forever, so our action must be immediate,” with the suffragist slogan slogan “Deeds Not Words”.

And on Saturday itself we combined with War on Want and Keep Our NHS Public activists to stage a photo-op outside the MRI complex on Hathersage Road.

This brought honks of support from passing traffic and was streamed live by a KONP supporting media student.

Pia Feig (a GJN member and NHS activist spoke about the threat to our health service, not simply in being directly “taken over”, but of the threat of “standstill and ratchet clauses” being included in the deal, progressively biting off chunks of our service.

She also drew attention to the looting of the NHS patient records database. This is probably the most complete patient health database in the world and is an extremely valuable resource for medical research. Its sale to trans-national corporations is one of the least noticed ways in which the the Government is privatising the NHS. It is yet another example of how publicly funded research and knowledge production is expropriated by trans-national capital for profit, rather than being used for the benefit of patients. Big Pharma will look for lucrative opportunities to develop expensive medicines for minor complaints, rather than tackling public health priorities. Meanwhile, US insurance companies will want to use the data to identify and discriminate against the most vulnerable by refusing insurance to them.

Stephen Pennells picked up on the indirect threats to health, reprising the threat to nutrition through US food standards before going on to talk about employment, climate change, government secrecy and the worrying record of Biden, as Obama’s deputy supporting TTIP. This means that whoever is elected President, the campaign will have to further intensify. Both govenments, freed from the deadline of the US election will want something to spin as an economic opportunity in the aftermath of the pandemic’s effect on business, jobs and profits.

These actions reinforced alliances and spread our message. We learnt that we need to develop our media skills. Our speeches were unscripted and reasonable in terms of the “Just a Minute” criteria of speaking without “hesitation, repetition or deviation”. However a quarter of an hour is too long for modern attention spans and it would have benefitted from interactive questioning or reflective prompts.

So we are planning to work on this with a couple of our new recruits, one of whom is a new media student at Salford Uni. If you would like to be involved, don’t be shy!

Whatever the severity and urgency of the Pandemic it’s important to keep one’s eye on the fundamental threat: climatic disaster

As often emotive headline facts and anger lead to sub-optimal effect when the big picture is not seen; battles may be be won, but the fundamental causes and issues will bring new problems to be addressed.

Sun and Samba

So, wary of the implications which are likely to result from reckless and irresponsible trade deals a couple of us went along to the formal beginning of Extinction Rebellion’s #WeWantToLive “Northern Rebellion” in St. Peter’s Square on 1st. September.

As you would expect on a sunny day, it was well attended with a samba band that had come from the NE as well as folks old and young from the Lakes and Lancs, Bury and Burnage. The road outside the Midland Hotel and Friends Meeting House was blocked, some meditated and the police were gently in attendance while the trams ran unmolested with their squealing drowning out speakers at times.

We mingled offering materials, inviting people to sign petitions and come to our webinar, QR codes for which had been generated and printed. However as time went on I became more aware that “Town” is but a shadow of its former self; plenty of activists, but fewer tourists, shoppers and workers. Many are more cautious of others.

Wary of being trolled (as had already happened in the comments on the MEN website’s disparaging report written before the event) organisers were at pains to encourage social distancing, mask wearing and the peaceful nature of the event.

Speakers

The mysterious Red Brigade made silent appearances (seen here contemplating the fate of climate refugees), as did independent photographers; HS2 was vilified. a priest in Salford represented Christian Climate Action and a wheelchair user emphasised the desire of disabled activists to participate. A formation dance was performed (socially distanced) and a GP spoke of his experiences in Africa . He had set up a Doctors’ XR group which had coordinated posting health warning stickers on over 50 local petrol stations. Marc Hudson from Climate Emergency Manchester spoke well on the need for persistence (and their petition for a scrutiny committee); Mums and Dads with tots and children (celebrating the end of exile from school) chalked the pavement.

We were reminded of the Palestinian issue, Demilitarise Education, and problems facing renters. Later moving testimony was given from the sister of Chris Alder who had been died in police custody 22 years ago. Young Manchester FoE members, School Strikers and other young folk spoke in varied ways: some sweary, some naïve, some inarticulate in their distress.

Eventually we had a chance to point out the links between trade and ecological and climate breakdown. People listened, but action is more difficult and was disappointingly not evident.

Marching

Later the faithful went on a wander-march around the city centre, supposedly to see the sites of “climate sinners”, though the only couple of stations I noted were outside the DWP (2 St Peter’s Sq., underneath Ernst and Young and next door to KPMG, both of whom Christian Aid challenged a few years ago (with PwC and Deloitte) for their failures to make climate-impact reporting norms for banks. Banks were not visited (their day will come) and we ended up squeezing past a police van and legion to admire a pink sprayed building hidden next to the Rising Sun and Credit Union offices in Lincoln Square. We were told this was used by the Daily Mail. We had a bit of a sing song and made our way back to St. Peter’s Square.

We left at that point having tickets for the launch of Nick Dearden’s book. Many others sat around taking refreshments before a vigil, more speakers and workshops.

The knock on effect of the pandemic depleting the audience resulted in what I found a bit disappointing after last year. One always has a first flush but now they were victims of their success – Deansgate is still largely pedestrianised and their threat to business is well enough perceived for mass media to almost blank them.

Supportive councilors were conspicuous by their absence and there were fewer non-campaigners engaged. An incredible amount of expense, organisation and work had gone into preparing publications, hardware, and roles; they could have coped with many more attending.

Then came the rain…

I went along on Tuesday where a much smaller gathering was blighted by persistent rain. There were even fewer passers-by to be engaged but some fun was had by a mass dance. Later we were led off by a circuitous route, with police motorcyclists buzzing too and fro to block off streets . This ended in Dale Street outside the offices of Boohoo where there was some shouting, a smoke flare was let off and (when the samba band arrived) there was more sound. Unfortunately my camera conked out due to the rain and photocopied posters decomposed.

Take away learning experiences:

Get your speech in early by making contact with the organisers before we did!
Have plenty of materials to give away (we virtually ran out as the climate stickers, illustrated climate justice booklet and A4 window posters were taken eagerly- we can only hope that they will be deployed strategically).
Have an action as easy as possible- even with QR codes, getting people to sign a postcard there and then is easier than an e action on a mobile. A giant postcard to sign works well.
Rebels are energetic, committed and imaginative; they are diverse and taking strikes to ensure their inclusivity – we would do well to be inspired and learn much from them; but many lack campaigning experience and can seem to suffer from tunnel vision – we should offer help.
The Rebels achieved a lot with a lot of people taking things on and turning up.
No matter what is planned, the weather and people’s personal and legislated responses to the pandemic may be determinative.
Cover up in the rain, have a prepared “Plan B” stunt to exploit it, or go home!

Day of Action on US Trade Deal