Five Historic British Protests and how the right to protest is under threat in the UK
Like generations before us, we must refuse to let government crackdowns defeat us.
A 27 year old curly haired protester called Ben has just been in prison for three months. His crime? Blocking the M25 to draw attention to fuel poverty.
Clearly shaken by the powerful Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion movements, the British state is cracking down on dissent.
The Tories’ Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill – in its final stages in Parliament – will put prison sentences on the table for protesters. We could be locked up for being “a public nuisance” or “a serious annoyance.” We could even go to prison for protesting alone.
Incredible activists, from trade unionists to feminists to anti-racists, have bravely fought these plans in spite of police threats. Yet the Conservative majority means they shall pass.
With this in mind, let’s remind ourselves of how powerful we are when we come together. Here are five UK protests that have inspired me and what they teach us for the battles ahead.
1.BLACK PEOPLE’S DAY OF ACTION, 1981
In 1981, young people in New Cross, London, were celebrating their friend’s birthday. During the party, a fire set the house ablaze and killed 13 young Black people. When survivors said they’d seen someone throw something into the building, they felt like no one was listening — and that the government didn’t care. The National Front had been marching through UK streets in a summer of racist violence — and now this.
The New Cross Massacre Action Committee organised a show of defiance against racism. 20,000 people marched through London on a Monday to cause as much disruption as possible. One attendee described the day as “the most powerful expression of Black political power this country has ever seen”.
Survivors did not get justice in the courts — but coming together did give them an outlet for their pain and an opportunity to send a message to the country. Racism would not be ignored or tolerated, it would be fought.
Some of the activists involved, such as Darcus Howe, would continue to be powerful voices against racism in the decades to come.
2.BERMONDSEY WOMEN’S UPRISING, 1911
In the early 1900s businessmen were making a killing from ordinary people working in deadly conditions. Trade union membership doubled across the UK, and strikes became more frequent as people demanded better lives for their families.
In 1911 a transport strike kicked off in Southampton, spreading to Liverpool and beyond. 250,000 people went on strike to demand better working conditions. Inspired by the success of the transport strike, working class women were ready to rise up too.
Women in South London were earning a measly wage making things like jam, biscuits and tin — and many lost limbs doing so. Though most had never taken political action before, by acting in their thousands, they found they could use people power to fight for their rights. 12,000 people walked out of work and 14,000 demonstrated in a local park.
Just like the transport strike, the women’s action ended in a victory. These incredible working class women won wage increases and improvements to their working conditions.
3. RECLAIM THE NIGHT, 1977
The Reclaim the Night protests started in Leeds after a series of murders of women in Yorkshire. Protestors took issue with the police response to the Yorkshire murders which had demanded women change their behaviour, rather than violent men, and diminished the value of sex workers lives.
The English Collective of Prostitutes organised protests and a group of feminists planned a protest through Leeds that would spread to other cities in the years to come.
Much like the Black People’s Day of Action, this was an opportunity for collective grief in their community.
Taking to the streets for some women was a powerful act of defiance and solidarity. Landing their placards in the papers sent a message to the whole country — women refused to be silent and refused to allow sexist violence to sweep their cities.
Reclaim the Night protests still happen regularly in the UK and other countries across the world. More recently, trans women and non-binary people have taken part in Reclaim the Night protests, to highlight the gendered violence they face in our country.
4.THE BRISTOL BUS BOYCOTT, 1963
In the UK in the 1960s it was legal to discriminate against people because of their race. The problem for campaigners was that businesses denied they did it. Inspired by the US civil rights movement and activists like Rosa Parks, Paul Stephenson and Guy Bailey decided to prove that Black people were being denied jobs as bus drivers.
When Guy Bailey went for a job as a bus driver in Bristol he was, as expected, told no. Both the bus company and the workers’ trade union were collaborating to prevent Black drivers being hired. From then, a protest movement was born.
Paul, Guy and other activists, announced that West Indians would no longer use Bristol’s buses, and many in the wider Bristol community supported them including students who marched through the city.
In 1963 it was reported that discrimination in hiring bus drivers would end. Two years later, the government introduced the Race Relations Act.
5. DON’T ATTACK IRAQ PROTESTS, 2003
15 February 2003 is thought to have been the day of the largest ever protest event in world history. 600 protests took place all over the world and in the UK. Around one million people are thought to have protested in London alone and school children walked out in protest. Despite the huge numbers, the Labour government won a majority of MPs’ support for the attack on Iraq and so the bombs began to fall.
This unsuccessful protest was a turning point for many activists, who started to think about different ways of building movements and winning campaigns in the future. One million people in the UK had acted — but those one million people did not form any kind of movement.
It was my first ever protest and as an angry, working class girl who believed in a better world — I learnt a hard lesson about politics. Simply speaking out wasn’t enough.
The outcry did have some impact. There is now more hesitancy in both voters and politicians to rush into wars. The protests were also the beginning of the Stop the War Coalition protests Western wars to this day.
WHY OUR RIGHT TO PROTEST MATTERS
These five examples show the varied but powerful nature of protest. Protests are collective outrage, they are a sign to those in power that they will be held to account. Sometimes they are painstakingly organised over time, like the Battle of Cable Street or Greenham Common. Sometimes they happen in a day, like the vigil for Sarah Everard. Sometimes they quickly lead to change, like the poll tax protests. And sometimes change takes longer, like the decade long campaign to Save the Arctic.
The one thing that connects all of these protests is, in some way, the government or police tried to stop them. In fact, until 1973 in the UK, The Riot Act allowed police to break up groups of more than 12 people.
Our right to protest matters now as it did then. For those of us from marginalised communities, like people of colour, working class people, travellers and gypsies — protests are even more important. The streets can be the only place to come together and be heard. Sadly though when the right to protest is threatened, it’s these marginalised groups who face the worst of the backlash too.
Just as generations before have us done, whatever the law says, whatever politicians say about us — we must continue to fight. For so many of us, there is simply too much at stake.
