THE STORY

Why protest?

Getting there

The masses in the Meadows

Action not Words!

Getting to the start of the March

Procession round the City Centre

Return to the Meadows

The Big Moment

A succesful event - but were they listening?

To find out more about the campaign, go to the Make Poverty History website.

Click here to see more banners from the rally and march

Why protest?

There aren’t many public events that can really capture the attention of world leaders – and maybe this one didn’t, but at least it was worth a try! As this story is being written, the G8 leaders are gathering for their summit meeting at Gleneagles, a magnificent hotel where it would be easy to loose sight of the real world. Given the terrible injustices of poverty, national indebtedness, and destructive free trade policies, it seemed the right time to go along and support the movement for change. The last time I’d marched in a demonstration was a quarter of a century ago, when Torness Nuclear Power Station was about to be built near Dunbar, east of Edinburgh. It didn’t stop the project, but the nuclear power programme came to a halt soon afterwards.

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Getting there

The demo was due to start and finish at the Meadows, a large area of parkland to the south of Edinburgh city centre. My son Owen is in a student flat not far away, and was keen to go along too. I’d booked a rail ticket earlier in the week, and reserved a seat, which was just as well as people were queuing outside Dundee station when I got there. The train from Aberdeen wasn’t full, but it picked up more passengers across Fife and there was no room for those waiting at Kirkcaldy. From Haymarket station at the west end of the city centre I hurried along the streets, past the Edinburgh Conference Centre and groups of people dressed in white making their way to the demonstration.

At the flat, Owen and his friend Pete finished off their breakfast and donned their white t-shirts, and we walked down to the Meadows at 10.45. By then there was a steady stream of people in small groups heading in the same direction – some including young children, nearly everyone wearing white clothing of some sort. People were on the street corner selling posters on sticks calling for Trade Justice, whistles to make a noise, and Palestine flags. Melville Drive, which cuts across the Meadows, was closed to through traffic and being used as an elongated coach park.

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The masses on the Meadows

Across the road, people were queuing to get through the gates onto the Meadows, where large white marquees were set up. The weather was bright and comfortably warm, with the sun beginning to break through. Protestors were sitting on the grass, standing in groups talking, a mix of young and old.

We moved on a little further to where we could see a greater concentration of people standing, and realised they were at the edge of an already vast crowd which was mostly seated on the grass, extending right across to the other side of the parkland. They were looking up to our left, where a stage and giant screen were set up. An Indian family were sitting together nearby, taking some family photos. Young women sat with children, some of whom had their faces painted with symbols or t-shirts with hand-written messages. Older people made themselves comfortable. In the distance were more marquees and a double-decker bus.

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Action not words!

We arrived just as the guest speakers began to come onto stage to give their messages. Councillor Lesley Hinds, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, provided a welcome to the city and a strong message about the significance of the event. Jonathan Dimbleby told us that he could look out and see thousands upon thousands of people spread out in front of him, and spoke about the suffering he had seen in Africa where people were dying of poverty and Aids. Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, delivered a message from Pope Benedict supporting the call for justice and fairness for all God’s people. Kathy Galloway from the Iona Community argued that this wasn’t about charity, it was about justice: “free trade is only free if you’re rich”, and criticised the international arms trade. The actor, Peter Postlethwaite, delivered a powerful message to world leaders, calling for effective action not more words. Brinda Adige from Global Concern India linked the movement to Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent struggle for Indian independence. She argued that the combination of liberal views and feudal values produced slavery. The devaluation of the Indian rupee had devalued human labour, whilst free trade and international trade cartels resulted in women and girls being used as cheap labour. “This march today is for the values of ordinary people, human lives, and peace.”

Daleep Mukarji from Christian Aid passionately reinforced several of the earlier messages: “No more words, we want action. We want justice. We want change…Free trade leads to slavery. It’s a scandal what is happening to the countries of the south, the number of child deaths. We are angry. Surely we can say to the G8 a better world is possible. Tell Tony and his 7 male friends – we want change.” Several speakers referred to the shocking statistics of 30,000 children dying each day in Sub-Saharan Africa from preventable diseases.

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Eddie Izard and Elaine C Smith took their turns to introduce speakers and keep things moving along. There was a musical interlude from Salsa Celtica, symbolically combining the cultures of the South and the North and encouraging many spectators to get up and dance. But despite the music and the passion from the stage, perhaps the video on the giant screen had the biggest impact, finishing with some moving words from Nelson Mandela. “Poverty is not natural, it is man made. The messages to the G8 leaders are: trade justice; an end to debt; deliver more aid of the highest quality. Make this the Great Generation which can make poverty history.”

It was midday, when the march was due to start, but there was no real sign of movement among the masses. The crowds stretched for such a distance, it wasn’t possible to see what was happening on the other side. Another speaker appeared, Noreena Herz, professor of Political Economy at Utrecht, to give an emotionally charged address. Then Sharleen Spitteri came on with one of her colleagues from Texas, with his accoustic guitar, and they knocked out some well-known tunes.

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Getting to the start of the March

A group of women came past us, saying they’d heard that the march was moving from the far side of the park. It was about 12.20, and the march was supposed to be under way. We decided to make a move, but in the opposite direction, and edged our way across to where two lines of cherry trees signified a footpath now submerged beneath a sea of people and banners, a bit like road markers after a snowstorm. Some agile protestors had scrambled up into the branches to get a better view of the crowds and take some photos. People chatted to each other patiently. There were babies in pushchairs and a youngster on Dad’s shoulders. We waited and waited, then decided to move outside the avenue of trees, eventually working our way through to the northern end of the path. We had a better view of the mass of people further across the Meadows, where there was a second stage set up.

Suddenly there was a cheer, lots of whistles were blown, and we expected to start moving, but the crowd only edged forward a few feet. However we could see a space of green grass, and barriers were removed, letting a bunch of people through into the space. We were next, and the barriers were opened like a valve, regulating the flow of people onto the wide path that led up past the Old Royal Infirmary. Still we went forward a few feet at a time, and others came in behind.

An announcement was made at about 1.10 p.m. that the front of the march had come back into the Meadows, successfully creating a white band of people around the city centre. This was greeted by great cheers – the symbolic moment replicated on a giant scale the white wristbands that millions of people had bought to demonstrate support for “Make Poverty History”.

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Procession around the city centre

We edged forward more steadily now, accompanied by a giant black-cloaked figure symbolising Death. There was some open space on the grass beside the wide path, and more room for people to move. Arriving at Lauriston Place at the top of the path there were stalls selling posters and badges; across the street a group of police were guarding the front of Starbucks. We got closer to a samba band playing lively music, and a group of protestors with red flags proclaiming “revolution”. Evidently the event was bringing together a wide spectrum of people, from the Socialist Workers to Christian Aid and Quakers, all committed to a fairer world.

From then on it was a straightforward – but slow – march around the city. The sun was out for much of the time, lighting up the line of people in white, and the thousands of banners. We snaked past the Museum of Scotland, past the Grassmarket, past the pub where Owen works, across the High Street (part of the Royal Mile) where tourists looked on. Then we turned down towards the Mound, and had the chance to get photos of the line of people below. The procession turned left onto Princes Street, the left-hand side of which was cordoned off for the march. Up to the left, a giant banner had been fixed to the front of Edinburgh Castle, proclaiming “Make Poverty History”. At one point people were tying their messages and prayers, written on bands of cloth, onto railings and fixing them to large campaign notices. We turned left at a church which looked like the Christian Aid command post, with a mock-African village set up outside.

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Return to the Meadows

Then it was a quieter procession around the back of the Castle and through again to the Meadows.  One woman with a group from a church in Glasgow tried to stir up some enthusiasm with shouts of “what do we want?” to which her companions would should “fair trade”, “drop the debt” or “more aid”, the three key messages of the campaign. Most marchers, however, seemed content to return quietly to the Meadows, which we reached at 2.40 p.m. – about 90 minutes after we had left.  With an estimated 225,000 taking part, that made it both the most popular and the slowest walk on the Walking Stories website!

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The Big Moment

We had time to relax in the warm sunshine whilst more people spoke passionately from the stage. A rival announcer was counting down to the “Big Moment” at 3.00 p.m. when there would be a minute’s silence. Unfortunately the three helicopters overhead weren’t able to comply, but otherwise an impressive hush descended on the Meadows. Then the silence was broken by applause, whistles, shouts and the samba bands striking up again. There was an air of celebration – although the banners continued to reflect the more serious messages at the heart of the event.

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A successful event – but were they listening?

Although Billy Bragg had taken to the stage, and there was still a long queue of people waiting to set out on the march, it seemed an appropriate time for us to head off for a pint and something to eat. Pete knew a good bar nearby, and we were able to catch up on the ladies’ singles final at Wimbledon. A squad of mounted police rode past, and a squadron of riot police vans were parked in a nearby street. The policemen dressed up in riot gear looked menacing but a trifle bored – it all seemed to have gone peacefully, and the messages had been relayed successfully.

Down in London the Live 8 concert was well under way. The call for action was reverberating around the country - and in other cities abroad. Increasing numbers of people seemed to be recognising the injustices of the global economic system. Whether the leaders were listening was another matter.

Contributed by: Andrew Llanwarne

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We were there!

Owen and Pete