From: dr n. barley
brief report to big chill forum posted today:
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demo wise.... what can i say other than well done to all who made it and
to those who didn't make it but so wanted to. completely shocked the
organisers, who had a sense of the size going back to last week when the
phones started really going off... everyone reckoned it was going to be
huge... but it eventually shocked even the biggest optimists. many, many
thousands came to express opposition to bush and his murdering multi
national agenda. had phone calls from the head of the demo trying to
articulate what was happening up in mallet street... all we really knew
at that time was there were "thousands and thousands arriving" ... there
was even an "unofficial demo" in front of the main one estimated to be
20,000 strong.... when the beginning of the demo reached nelsons column
the tail had still not left euston, nearly three miles away. they walked
in to be greeted by a rammed and passionate trafalgar square. the
speeches were wicked... and moving.
as far as production in trafalgar square goes a brief report back;
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the vj was marc silver, yeast film maker and long time raya crew (who
normally works alongside nick hillel who was away in Israel this week)
... marc did an amazing job staying focused on the case all day long...
despite getting a sweat up wearing a rubber bush mask for the
duration... he would not take it off... concentrating hard... injecting
brilliant humour and world class politics into the proceedings. also had
a mobile phone, number up on the led screen... taking messages from the
huge crowd... interaction... after a few hours the txt number had spread
around the globe with messages coming in from all over. global
interaction. messages came from the middle east which is as good as it
gets imho. on a music tip... we got some 11 year old mc's up on the mic
in the morning ... took some coaxing... but they done an inspiring and
energetic job with a lot to say about the state of the world... also a
few live pa's ... un-people rocked it... with a palestine rap... etc...
culminating in joe hill being sung in acapela near the end. dj's were
tony and mrs minx... not worthy. their political consciousness and all
round love of quality social music showed in every record they
dropped... not sure if andy beck got on... he couldn't get near the dex
too many in the crowd. thanks also to mark williams, jeff brown, nick,
dave colbran who contributed very much to the team vibe and filled in
with help and support where ever needed.
all the more breath taking when you consider this event was organised by
"volunteers"... we got the green light for the "stage production" on
monday morning. built in three days.. many phone calls to and from
gla... emails... calls to and from contractors... what a hectic week....
tense... stress... complicated... eventually had "official license" on
wednesday afternoon at five o'clock. the contractors who put the
production in are true stars... no fuss... get in... build... take
down... laters. amongst the chaos they stayed on their tasks. the rig
was cool and sounded lush and warm... three phase power... lighting...
led screen.. stage ... fences and crush barriers... umbrellas...
marquee... dex.. posters and banners ... every single element came
together like a well oiled machine and we had it up and running the
moment george bush placed the reef at the feet on the unknown soldier.
surreal moment we could see the tail of the state cavalcade down white
hall from nelsons column. totally surreal.
stop the war coalition are very organised and on the case... it's
difficult to see how this can stop now... the foundations are solid and
appear un breakable. a brilliant and growing united front.
keep the faith...
simon (in personal capacity)
nb. please check http://www.stopwar.org.uk ... for "official" info.
