It was already decided by the media and the authority that the G20 protest on 1st April 2009 would be “trouble”.
What a shame. With some self-restraint, a little bit of wisdom and fewer swear words, it could have been a great opportunity for both the consumers and the industries to make a point to the government – and the banks – about the predicament we are in.
The key arguments underlying the protest were substantial. Marches were led by the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in green, black, red and white, symbolising climate chaos, homelessness, war and financial crimes respectively.
Pre-economic collapse, we could argue that the consumers and the agribusiness industries stood on different sides of the fence.
But that ‘us’ and ‘them’ attitude is no longer useful. In fact, it’s dangerous. Businesses need to survive, consumers need to eat, and the environment, which we all heavily depend on, has to be saved.
Photos: Salina Christmas, using Nikon D90
For personal reasons, I decided to follow the Green Horseman from Liverpool Street to the Bank of England on that Wednesday morning.
Initially, the protest was fun. The mood was festive – even the bobbies were laughing. But by the time we got to the bank, it went downhill.
The Green Horseman was not allowed to join the other three horsemen. Arguments ensued, scuffles happened, the batons started raining on the protesters, and then, mayhem.
I’m not going to elaborate on how I survived the whole thing after the first police line broke. Watch the videos and see for yourself. To put it in gastronomic terms, if this was a feast, then what the media was feeding on was a carcass. Maybe a free-for-all roadkill.
"G20 protest: The Climate Camp on Bishopsgate" Watch the video (1:07 mins)
For several hours, Climate Camp protesters manage to make a peaceful point about the environment and agribusiness monopoly of some major multinationals. Sojournposse captures the happy moments before the removal of protesters Videography: Salina Christmas
Gourmet food it wasn’t. If it were gourmet, the stories dominating the news headlines would have been that of agreements on sustainability, aids for the poor and recognition of the human dimension in the financial and environmental crises.
Some of the protesters, or troublemakers, were really hamming it up for the camera, and the police acted tough so they came out looking like the “Guvnor”. And they did.
Sky News and the Daily Express made sure they came out smelling of roses. There were decent folks, some as old as my dad, taking part in the protest, but they got referred to by some newspapers as “anarchists”.
And what happened to the issues that the well-meaning protesters tried to highlight?
"G20 protest: The green horseman march" Watch the video (2:01 mins)
The green horseman, which symbolises climate catastrophe, marches from Liverpool St to the Bank of England. Media scrum aside, it starts out as an exciting event. But things turn for the worse as the party reaches the Bank of England Videography: Salina Christmas
Could we end the hegemonic domination of starchy cereals and soy- or maize-fed animals in our diets? Could we have an agricultural market not dominated by what the EU referred to as “food cartels”?
It is too late to not financialise agriculture – it has gone so deep into the world of ‘bottomlines’ – but could we at least have a system that’s not 100% at the mercy of hedge funds, futures or whatever confusing financial/mathematical concepts it is currently enslaved to?
And could the industries, the consumers and the green groups transcend their differences and work together for a safer environment, safer foods and a fairer way of doing business?
I suppose it wasn’t my fault that I was not presented with the best of humanity when I set about to find these answers at the G20 protest. “The interview sample is narrow,” a colleague put it mildly.
"G20 protest: Trouble at the Royal Exchange" Watch the video (1:55 mins)
By 5.45 pm, it is clear that issues such as climate change, poverty and inequality no longer figure - TV channels and news websites start churning out footage of violence instead. Sojournposse witnesses the confrontation between the protesters and the police Videography: Salina Christmas
I really wish I came away from the G20 protest with stills and footage of people talking about potential solutions, not people and police getting on each other’s nerves.
Hopefully, at the next G20 Summit, we will find out how much of the $1.1 trillion pledged by the G20 leaders actually will find its way into aids and environmental efforts.
If I read it correctly, the G20 communique says IMF – that US-friendly money lending outfit – is getting a bailout. Are we talking about the same economic assassin hired by the World Bank to choke the life out of the developing world? Yes, the very same one.
There is, however, something in the communique that talks about “building a resilient, sustainable, and green recovery”.
But that’s in paragraph 27, which is the very last paragraph.
Salina Christmas is an editor and photo journalist
