The UK press is predicting a summer of protests as a result of the economic downturn. Almost inevitably there will be pictures of the police in riot gear being threatened by the marchers.
Effective protest doesn't have to be like this. In Aix en Provence this weekend the university students staged a demonstration over funding cuts. They could have staged a sit-in at the local government offices or marched through the city with banners and loudspeakers. Instead they did something much more dramatic - a mass piece of street theatre. When a whistle blew 100 students froze on the spot, some of them were kissing, others eating, others crossing the road, what ever the activity they held their precise pose for about 5 minutes. Traffic stopped, people walked around the students, some small children even poked them to see if they could be induced to move.
Nothing. Then the whistle blew again and life resumed. Everybody nearby collected a piece of paper which detailed the student's greivances.
How wonderful! I would have loved to have seen this.
Posted by: Lisa Pepin | March 01, 2009 at 06:58 AM
That's brilliant! If you tried that here in the colonies, you'd have been run over...I'm only half kidding of course.
Still enjoying the books!
Cheers
Posted by: Scott Cejka | March 01, 2009 at 02:25 PM