Gaius. There were three types of official looking yellow bibs on the Gleneagles demo. Two comprised our friends the Old Bill, a little disorganised and anxious for once, and the G8 Alternatives stewards, totally disorganised and incompetent. While protesters were busy reclaiming the fields outside the Hotel to stop the summit, G8 Alternative stewards (staffed mostly by everyone’s favourite liberals, the SWP and their allies, who’ve been trying for months to get a seat at the table with Geldof and Bono), were busy telling people to get back on the road, and stay on the agreed route like good boys and girls. After all, they needed to rush back to the field to hear the reassuring tones of Lindsey German and Chris Nineham, who were there to address the masses at 4pm (and it was already 3.30!!!).
Meanwhile on the other side, the stewards had received the same page messages and were literally pushing back folk from trying to do what we’d all come there for (to stop the summit – or at least pester it a little). As protesters insisted that they wanted to finish the march, the stewards unilaterally withdrew from the march and ran back to hear their leaders. Hardly impartial stewarding – in fact some might suggest a bit more like doing the job that the police had singularly failed to do on their behalf.
Eventually the second half of the crowd was let through. The police opened their ranks as they’d told the stewards they would BUT – oh no – not a steward in sight so we couldn’t proceed, Mr Plod informs us. Finally a couple of stewards were discovered cowering under a paving stone, down with a couple of woodlice they’d mistaken for the speakers at the main rally. So we all proceeded on our way to a happy finale. We’d even had the good fortune to miss the Rally by then, and climbed back onto our buses, like the contented toddlers we are.
Oh the third group? Why the Insurgent Rebel Clown Army – beautifully presented, orchestrated and the only group doing something useful. Next time, let’s just follow them.
Far from wanting to defend the SWP, it should be pointed out the majority of stewards were volunteers from the FBU.
Also, many SSPers, including myself, joined the breakaway march through the cornfield to the perimeter fence (not sure about the SWP).
Posted by: Neil Bennet | Saturday, 09 July 2005 at 12:26
Yeah but everyone knows the FBU and other so-called 'trade unions' are just SWP fronts anyway.
Posted by: Mr Spoon | Monday, 11 July 2005 at 16:56
Yes, but stewards don't act autonomously, there's always someone known as a Chief Steward. And lets not pretend that the SWP would let anyone else be the Chief Steward - unless Gill Hubard, Chris Nineham et al were all too busy denouncing the 'violence' of protestors to the media to think about stewarding... The recieved wisdom in the SWP always used to be that it was a massive mistake when the Militant denounced the 'violence' of anti-poll tax rioters - yet they seem to be paralleling that mistake here exactly....
Posted by: Jimbo | Tuesday, 12 July 2005 at 11:09
It's difficult to judge the extent to which the utter incompetency of the stewards had anything to do with their party composition. What I agree with though, was that the lack of organisation was disgraceful. The phrase 'headless chickens' comes to mind.
Posted by: Stewart Davidson | Wednesday, 13 July 2005 at 17:07
http://monplombaprojet.org/brand-triano/index.html
Posted by: http://monplombaprojet.org/brand-triano/index.html | Thursday, 05 July 2007 at 07:50