London Bridge Is Falling Down

Courtesy of NY Times/David Kitwood

On yesterday, in one of the biggest demonstrations in decades, over 50,000 British college students and their supporters participated in a protest in London. The protesters opposed the government's push to increase college tuition while cutting funding for higher education expenses. While it initially started out peacefully, some demonstrators behave violently, breaking windows, storming in the Conservative Party's headquarters building, and throwing out objects from the building onto the streets. In all, at least 14 persons were injured while 35 protesters were arrested. Unions leaders and protest organizers are planning for additional demonstrations to come. For more on the story, read the articles from The New York Times and SocialistWorker.org, as well as view today's episode on Democracy Now!



Perhaps the most interesting piece of information mentioned in the video clip is the guest's comments on the significance of protesting:

Courtesy of NY Times/Dominic Lipinksi

Well, one of the things that’s really inspiring about this is how big and how inventive the protest and fightback movement is. And I think this is really helpful for American viewers, where the only fightback that we’re seeing over here from you guys seems to be from this massive exercise in false consciousness, the Tea Party, where people claim to be standing up frontally and they’re in fact installed in office later, stooges for Wall Street and other vested interests. Here, there’s been a much more interesting fightback.

The guest, British columnist Johann Hari, in fact, wrote an article on this same topic the day before the London protest for The Huffington Post. Essentially, he advocated for peaceful demonstrations of the working class and the poor in opposing corporate takeover and influence in government. One of the historical examples Hari used in proving the effectiveness of a peaceful protest is the recent protest of Vodafone. A major mobile phone company in Britain, Vodafone had evaded paying taxes for years; to add insult to injury, the current Conservatives-run government allowed Vodafone to legally continue not to pay taxes. All of this unfold when the same government voted for cessation of housing (and other) subsides to the poor. When the media reported on these, the public became outraged. Initiated by a small group of people who put the word out via Twitter, there was a small protest of a local Vodafone store, which cause the abrupt closing of that store. The news of this protest spread like wildfire throughout Great Britain; consequently, 21 stores around the country were closed due to local protests at the stores' locations.

This story reminded me of the Greensboro's Sit-ins in the 1960's, where four black North Carolina A&T University students went into a local Woolworth's store and sat at the whites-only lunch counter. While those students were harassed and later arrested, once released, they did it again, until the store merchant serve them the same way the white customers were. News of this spread throughout the country, sparking similar acts of protest in other Woolworth's locations as well as in other stores where Jim Crow laws were enforced. The Greensboro Sit-ins spearheaded what is now known as the Civil Right Movement. If it wasn't for those four brave souls, as an Black woman, I wouldn't have the opportunities to enjoy the freedoms and rights I so often take for granted.

Courtesy of SocialistWorker.org/Geoff Dexter

Today is Veterans' Day, where Americans celebrate the lives of current, former, and deceased soldiers who have fought and are still fighting to protect us as well as our rights and freedoms. One of those freedoms include the right to protest. Right now, in England, the Conservative Party controls the national government; as a result, they are enhancing the power of the rich and wealthy at the expense of the poor. The poor are beginning to stand up and fight back. I firmly believe our country will experience the same fate, in light of the recent mid-term elections. The Republicans will do the exact same thing to us here in America. What will happen then? When will enough be enough? There are lessons to be learned here in England as well as in France.

In addition, the current education reform movement is a bipartisan affair. Hence, we teachers are flat out of luck. Who will look out for us in the government and corporate realm? Nobody! So what will do then? As the locals in New Orleans would say, "take it to the streets"! It is just a matter of time...