A Tale Of Three Protests

On Saturday, June 27th, London was abuzz with calls for change. Thousands of non-violent protesters from three different movements took to the streets to shout their grievances, placards and megaphones in hand. They represented Black Lives Matter (BLM), the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), and Justice for Shukri Abdi.

At first glance, the convergence of these protests in front of The Houses of Parliament seems merely a coincidence of time and place. Their causes seem un-connected. 

Black Lives Matter’s mission is ‘to eradicate white supremacy;’ in recent protests, BLM’s members have tried to reify this by calling for police reform, and in some cases police defunding. Meanwhile, Gay Liberation Front speakers expressed disdain about a U.K. policy change which threatens transgender rights. And marchers for Shukri Abdi – a 12-year-old Somali refugee who drowned in Manchester last year – urged police to re-investigate her death; evidence hints that Shukri was killed by classmates. 

 

A coincidence of time and place? The cohesion of protesters from across the three movements says otherwise. What began as three separate streams quickly became one cohesive unit. At Trafalgar Square, partisans of the Gay Liberation Front joined forces with the passing Black Lives Matter protest; the two then allied with protesters of Shukri Abdi’s death at Parliament Square, on the front lawn of Government offices. 

No sooner had the protesters inter-mixed than did their voices. Their chorus of chants harmonised. ‘Black Lives Matter’ was on the lips of everyone across the green, whatever their motivation for protesting on that day. BLM representatives in turn paid homage to Shukri Abdi and to Marsha P. Johnson, a black transgender icon of the late 20th century. Marsha’s fight for civil rights was pivotal to the GLF’s establishment. 

 

The cohesion of protesters, and the cohesion of their chants, was symbolic of the commonality of their causes. Although the protests had different targets, all three fought one common enemy: injustice. It is unjust that the U.K. criminal justice system is biased against minorities. It is unjust that on the 50th anniversary of the GLF’s foundation, transgender rights remain contentious. It is unjust that the suspicious death of a 12 year-old wasn’t properly examined. 

Repeating the words of one GLF speaker on the day, ‘divide and rule is the name of modern politics.’ We are split by ideological differences like Brexit vs Remain and, across the pond, Democrats vs Republicans, which encourage us to in-fight rather than fight against injustice. We are all guilty of attacking ‘the other’ rather than co-operating. It was therefore refreshing to see the movements resisting such divisions. When they shouted together, they shouted louder; their strength was fortified in numbers. 

Ultimately, the three protests shared more than just an hour on a patch of parliamentary grass. They shared a purpose. Each of the three movements endorsed each others’ missions, through chanting each others’ chants and celebrating their common causes. This, in an era where social mobility is squashed by divisions and polarity. As Martin Luther King once said, this should be the standard for all social movements: ‘We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.’

Nial Perry
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