We March

A political protest is a ritual process. There is the carnival of the assembly point, as hundreds of different organisations, sects, campaigns, groups, and individuals converge, and become one. There is the liminal phase of the march - the trudge, the whistles, the drums. Then there is the arrival at the rally, and the speeches.

A Muslim is very familiar with this structure. The function of a ritual is to change the self, rather than to change the world. Therefore what emerges from a protest march are hundreds and thousands of slightly more politically conscious and organisationally connected people. The headlines, the media attention, the level of pressure on officials, is a bonus.

Many are the times we have gathered at Portland Place, marched through Theatreland, past the Embassies, through Trafalgar Square, down Whitehall, and emerged at Parliament; dispersing happily into St James' Park. Past Napier, Haig, Churchill and Clive.

We were brought here by necessity - the cost of living crisis. A huge undertaking organised by the TUC. Every union was there. The dormant might of the labour movement was on full display, as one stood in the midst of the GMB section, and saw only orange banners from each regional branch in all directions. One union, on one section of the march. Before them the Communist Party, and the Kurdish Workers Party. After them, USDAW. Behind them, the teaching unions. 

A huge show of potential power, then. The slogans of the march were 'Enough is enough, demand better.' Other's included 'Make them (the ruling class) pay for their crisis.' Three word slogans included strike, organise, escalate. The unions, of course, are fairly conservative, and always have been. A march from A to B is useful for its salutary effect and its consciousness raising. But direct action, civil disobedience and community organising are, for now, off the table. Indeed, only a few unions have taken the step of strike action - the RMT among them, whose officials received a rapturous reception at the rally.

It will take more than this. But something stirred in London on Saturday. Join a union, join your mosque to a local justice campaign, join the struggle. 

Martyn Rush