By previous standards, yesterday's G20 protest/riot (delete as applicable) was a pale shadow of the riots of yesteryear.
Despite the best efforts of a hard core that laid waste to the Threadneedle St office of RBS (mainly owned by us tax-payers now, so that's a fantastic own goal there fellas), and the tragic death of one protestor who was within the police cordon (apparently from natural causes), this was largely a noisy but peaceful affair.
Various descriptions abounded on the digital media outlets:
".. the atmosphere seems that of a slightly aggressive folk festival .."
".. looking out my window, it appears that the hair-dye ratio in Bishopsgate has just increased .."
The composition of the crowd at Bank seemed to be equal parts protestor, curious on-looker and media. Indeed the smashing of the windows at the RBS office shows just a handful of rioters enacting the damage, while a semi-circle of media filmed it from every possible angle.
Twitterers from every major media outlet circulated in the crowd providing real-time updates, while for every upraised fist of a chanting protestor there were 2 or 3 more holding up a mobile phone or digital camera.
For me, the 21st century British version of public protest and our attitude to it was caught neatly in microcosm yesterday when Russell Brand, the famous sex addict and abusive phone-caller, emerged through the crowd next to me.
Here we were in the midst of a major public demonstration about the economy and our livelihoods when up strolls this B-list celebrity, brimming with self-importance. Immediately a scrum of about 100 people (media and onlookers) formed around him as he made his way towards the main crowd gathered outside the Bank of England.
His progress was stop-start, as he paused for photos with young women who flocked around him, before he veered off for a bizarre interlude in an Austin Reed store. He re-appeared shortly after, soaking up the attention before disappearing from my view.
Afterwards I read that he had come "to learn" and that he found the whole thing "beautiful". I think this was the perfect illustration of the 21st Century cult of celebrity, where their talent is secondary to their ability to sell media coverage, no matter how vacuous or shallow the utterings of that "celeb" is. An illustration thrown sharply into relief against the backdrop of the biggest economic crisis for decades.
Getting back onto topic, the scale of the protest was far lower than expected given the scale of the crisis that we are facing. The serious message of the majority of protestors was made into a farce by a small group of idiots attacking an institution now owned by the taxpayers. Although being anarchists, surely they are above taxation or any other form of representative government themselves, right?
It was also slightly comical to see how many of us had "dressed down" following company advice in a clearly visible City worker dressed down uniform - blue jeans, polo shirts etc. With some of the protestors dressing up in pinstripe suits and bowler hats too, we'd reached the completely surreal situation of the (nominally) opposing groups attempting to dress like each other (and failing utterly)!
To paraphrase those anarchist cheerleaders The Sex Pistols: Never mind the Bankers*.
*If you can ignore the hypocrisy of the capitalist rewards being so transparently enjoyed by their frontman Johnny Rotten in the last few years :-)
Despite the best efforts of a hard core that laid waste to the Threadneedle St office of RBS (mainly owned by us tax-payers now, so that's a fantastic own goal there fellas), and the tragic death of one protestor who was within the police cordon (apparently from natural causes), this was largely a noisy but peaceful affair.
Various descriptions abounded on the digital media outlets:
".. the atmosphere seems that of a slightly aggressive folk festival .."
".. looking out my window, it appears that the hair-dye ratio in Bishopsgate has just increased .."
The composition of the crowd at Bank seemed to be equal parts protestor, curious on-looker and media. Indeed the smashing of the windows at the RBS office shows just a handful of rioters enacting the damage, while a semi-circle of media filmed it from every possible angle.
Twitterers from every major media outlet circulated in the crowd providing real-time updates, while for every upraised fist of a chanting protestor there were 2 or 3 more holding up a mobile phone or digital camera.
For me, the 21st century British version of public protest and our attitude to it was caught neatly in microcosm yesterday when Russell Brand, the famous sex addict and abusive phone-caller, emerged through the crowd next to me.
Here we were in the midst of a major public demonstration about the economy and our livelihoods when up strolls this B-list celebrity, brimming with self-importance. Immediately a scrum of about 100 people (media and onlookers) formed around him as he made his way towards the main crowd gathered outside the Bank of England.
His progress was stop-start, as he paused for photos with young women who flocked around him, before he veered off for a bizarre interlude in an Austin Reed store. He re-appeared shortly after, soaking up the attention before disappearing from my view.
Afterwards I read that he had come "to learn" and that he found the whole thing "beautiful". I think this was the perfect illustration of the 21st Century cult of celebrity, where their talent is secondary to their ability to sell media coverage, no matter how vacuous or shallow the utterings of that "celeb" is. An illustration thrown sharply into relief against the backdrop of the biggest economic crisis for decades.
Getting back onto topic, the scale of the protest was far lower than expected given the scale of the crisis that we are facing. The serious message of the majority of protestors was made into a farce by a small group of idiots attacking an institution now owned by the taxpayers. Although being anarchists, surely they are above taxation or any other form of representative government themselves, right?
It was also slightly comical to see how many of us had "dressed down" following company advice in a clearly visible City worker dressed down uniform - blue jeans, polo shirts etc. With some of the protestors dressing up in pinstripe suits and bowler hats too, we'd reached the completely surreal situation of the (nominally) opposing groups attempting to dress like each other (and failing utterly)!
To paraphrase those anarchist cheerleaders The Sex Pistols: Never mind the Bankers*.
*If you can ignore the hypocrisy of the capitalist rewards being so transparently enjoyed by their frontman Johnny Rotten in the last few years :-)
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