Britain 1st-Hand: A Reflection on Saturday's Mass Protest Against Government Cuts (Campbell)
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 7:25
Photo: Dominic CampbellI went along [on Saturday] with one intention – to be part of a family of people hurting from the cuts, powerless to stop the loss of public services their communities rely on, keen to make their voices heard and make people understand what they’re going through. A form of national group therapy almost. Most accepted it would change nothing in the short-term, decisions already made, budgets as good as set, listening not exactly the forte of government at the best of times.
And for the first 4 hours of my day that’s exactly what I experienced. A technicolour of flags, faces and families, a sight that took my breath away from the other side of the Thames as the march first came into view passing along Embankment. Whatever your politics, whichever side of the cuts divide you come down on, we should be proud that as a nation we can come together on such a scale to support each other at a time of hardship.
For the first half of the day, we danced, we chatted, we laughed, we made new friends and (amazingly given the size of the crowd) bumped into many familiar faces and friends.