30th MARCH 2013

I am an infrequent protester and, as I have written before, am a poor demonstrator, a lousy marcher and even worse shouter of political slogans, no matter how good. Still I believe it important to demonstrate physically, politicians can handle e-mails, letters and opinion polls galore, what unnerves them is a physical presence on the streets.

So on Saturday I stirred my self from the very definite comfort of my apartment and travelled to Trafalgar Square and joined the assembled crowd to protest the ‘Bedroom Tax.’[1] I have been following politics since the late 1960’s but have never come across a crueller or more grotesque measure, even the poll tax trails a poor second to this vile legislation. Underlying it is a deep contempt for the tenants of Social Housing, an attempt to de-legitimise the right to call rented social housing, home.[2] People are being asked to leave areas where they have set down roots, have friends and support networks, are being forced to abandon their homes. This measure of course, as with so much of the governments Welfare ‘reforms,’ hits the disabled and vulnerable the hardest.

As I arrived in the Square it was indeed the Poll Tax that came to mind. Mingling in the Square were the usual suspects, the overwhelming majority from the Socialist Workers Party, by far and away the best organised, with stacks of banners at the ready, stalls laid out and newspaper sellers everywhere. One if the truly ironic sight at many a demonstration is some middle class couple from the suburbs, ripe with indignation, carrying SWP banners, oblivious to the true nature of this extremely unpleasant little sect. In the light of recent developments I wanted to approach one of the numerous SWP stalls to enquire, “Is this misogynist’s against the Bedroom Tax stall?”

There were a few ‘ordinary’ people, politicised by the tax, as well as a distressing number directly being threatened with the tax, but they represented the minority. This was also the case at the beginning of the Poll Tax revolt, though as the impact of the tax began to be felt, this changed. I believe, and certainly hope, the same will happen this time. I remember watching a near riot outside Maidenhead Town Hall and knew then that the Poll Tax’s days were numbered. Surely a similar phenomenon, if not on the same scale, will begin to emerge as the true cruelty of these measures hit home.

JOLLY COPPERS ON PARADE

I was pleased to some Anonymous represented with their distinctive Vendetta masks and customary wit; for me they represent the true heirs to the Situationist tradition. They hint not only at a more imaginative approach to dissent but to a more imaginative construction of society itself.

As I say I don’t often do protest, though this will I suspect now change. When writing about any situation I find my self in I am always torn between the comic possibilities always present and the demand to play it straight; the comic possibilities abounded but the tragedy of the situation made it ‘no contest,’ not much to laugh about in The Bedroom Tax.

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[1] David Cameron becomes mildly apoplectic when you call it this and of course the description is inaccurate, it is not literally speaking a tax. However the high comedy in this  is that Cameron imagines that calling it the ‘spare room subsidy’ sounds better!

[2] There was recently a radio phone in posing the question ‘can you ever call a rented property your home. I have written about this elsewhere, see Homes Not Holding Pens, below.Having visited this page I would be grateful for your feedback, either tick one of the boxes below or make a comment via the comments button.