The lifelong march

At the weekend I went on the Restore Nature Now march through Central London and, talking to a young fellow marcher, realised that I've been protesting like this for the best part of sixty years!

For the record, yes, it made me feel very old. On the other hand, when I considered the overall success rate of protest (of which more anon) I think, on balance, it was worth the effort. Our actions may not have been decisive but they were clearly influential, morally if not practically, although there were some notable victories, if only partial. We will never know, of course, whether things would have improved anyway without mass protests but at least we didn't allow the forces of chaos and division to go entirely unchallenged.

My first march must have been a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) 'ban the bomb' rally at the Menwith Hill military base in North Yorkshire (then the West Riding), a US 'listening post' throughout the Cold War period. I was an idealistic teenager at the time and remember feeling very grown-up to be protesting the folly of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). It was indeed a mad world, the era of Dr Strangelove, a time when we lived under the perpetual shadow of impending nuclear annihilation. The 'sixties may have been swinging but so was the pendulum of the Doomsday Clock.

I don't recall being involved in any anti-Vietnam War protests but I certainly participated in later anti-apartheid demonstrations in the 1970s, most notably outside the prestigious Craiglands Hotel on the edge of Ilkley Moor when it hosted South African holiday promotions. Waving 'it's all right if you're white' placards at buses ferrying delegates to the events felt very radical. 

For the same cause I also took part in a staged reading of the Steve Biko inquest transcripts (which I remember, possibly erroneously, as being entitled The Biko Tapes) where I read the testimony of a South African police officer involved in the cover-up of the circumstances of Biko's death in custody. It was a chastening experience for me and everyone else taking part. I remember a powerful taped message from Janet Suzman (whom I was later privileged to meet) forming part of the event. Stirring times indeed and, ultimately, a successful campaign, in which I'm proud to have played a very small part.

In the early '80s I participated in several rallies in support of the striking miners and, on moving south to live in London in 1986, I participated in gay (so-called at the time, a long time before LGBTQI+) actions, including Gay Pride Marches and, from 1988, anti-Section 28 rallies, including a lobby of Parliament. Margaret Thatcher's notorious anti-homosexual legislation for schools was finally repealed, after prolonged stubborn resistance from Tory Peers, by Tony Blair in 2003.

I took part in the second anti-Iraq War march in London in 2004, having been in Tunisia during the first massive protest in February 2003. Although I was sorry to miss the first rally it was incredibly moving to watch it on a big screen in Tunisia and have Tunisians thank us for our support, which they had no inkling existed in the West until seeing the live coverage. I was reminded of this experience while on the Armistice Day Gaza ceasefire march in London in November 2023. Sadly, conflict in the Middle East has been a constant throughout my lifetime.

I've lost count of the number of Remain/Rejoin marches I've been on post-Brexit but in recent years I've involved myself increasingly in climate protests, both in London and in the Canary Islands. The climate emergency now seems the most pressing issue to focus on. Goodness knows how many miles I must have tramped through the streets of London and Tenerife protesting against fossil fuel extraction, overtourism and the wilful destruction of nature and indigenous heritage.

So, has any of it made a practical difference? Well, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the USSR there was a so-called 'peace dividend' - in the West at least - but Putin's invasion of Ukraine put paid to that and nuclear Armageddon is once again being talked-up. And if Trump gets back into the White House all bets are off.

The Vietnam War ended largely because the US became war-weary and threw in the towel. The miners were defeated by Margaret Thatcher and the coalmining industry was destroyed. Apartheid in South Africa effectively ended in 1990 with Nelson Mandela's release from gaol after his twenty-seven year incarceration, though whether the lot of black South Africans has improved markedly since is debatable. 

The lot of the LGBTQI+ community in the UK has hugely improved following the repeal of Section 28, the equalisation of the age of consent to sixteen and same-sex marriage rights. Brexit is a fait accompli and there is little prospect of rejoining the EU in my lifetime, although a new Labour government may be able to repair some of the worst damage to our economy and international prestige.

However, conflict in the Middle East continues to destabilise global security and undermine basic human rights. And now, the existential threat posed by global warming with the reaching of the predicted tipping point of a 1.5° increase in the world's average temperature since pre-industrial times is truly alarming and probably irreversible. 

With this at the forefront of my mind I can hardly afford to be smugly complacent about how much a lifetime of activism has actually achieved.

But at least I tried.

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