Pro-test

I have way too much reading to do now, and a lot to write about other than today, but I need to take a moment to babble. First of all, did anyone at all have BBC News 24 on during this morning? Anyone watch the live reports from Oxford? I'm trying desperately to find someone who actually saw me, Claire and Sam on national television, because that would be joy. (I'm serious; anyone see a brown-haired boy, a white girl with bright red hair and an Asian girl with a hood?)

Seriously, though, it wasn't supposed to happen, it just... happened. Claire rang at eleven to say the protests were beginning and college was locking up, and we wandered through into the lodge expecting a few people, but instead we stepped out into Broad Street and an absolutely huge crush of people. These were the Pro-Test people (geddit?) who are protesting for the Oxford animal lab. There were hundreds of them chanting, with megaphones and a massive police presence with policemen on horses leading the way down Broad Street towards the Parks Road. At that point it didn't look too bad, no violence, just a lot of noise, and in a moment of genius the three of us went skipping upstairs and hung out of Sam's bathroom window over the crowd. (Lots of people turned to look at us. It was amusing.) When they started to march, we went running after them (and bumped into withiel pretending to be a press officer). We were being voyeuristic, basically; we weren't marching for and against, and we were chatting as we walked down on the pavement, a few metres away from the main body of the protest, and then looked up in surprise to see every camera in the entire world pointing at us.

At which point the anti-animal-testing people emerged from the Parks Road, and started howling their vitriol. I'm trying my best not to be biased here, because obviously they have their right to protest, but they can be so, so horrible - last time they were inciting people to violence right outside college - but they were really spoiling for a fight. There were some mini punch-ups on the picnic tables outside the King's Arms, and then Sam suggested we take a shortcut, cut across to the lab and wait for the protesters to reach there. So we did, and found the anti-testing people out in force. From where we were standing, they looked like they were protesting right at us, and I said at the time, in a sense they were. This right here is what pisses me off. Regardless of their views on animal testing, regardless of their right to protest, they cannot be violent. But they are. And they consider colleges, associated college property, andd Oxford university students "legitimate targets". The University and Balliol are not just nebulous entities, and they don't seem to see that. This is where I live. This is where I live, work and play, this is my HOME. They have no right to come in and make it unsafe for me, they have no right to threaten me, they have no right whatsoever to incite people to violence against my college.

Actually, this I think was the reason for so many people turning out for pro-animal-testing. Some people believe in that (I do myself), but lots of the people out there are pissed off at having their lives disrupted every weekend, at being locked out of colleges and libraries, at being wary of violence, and are protesting against the protests themselves rather than what they stand for. If they were peaceful, it would be different, but they're not.

And to be absolutely fair to them, the pro-test people were exceptionally reasonable. They didn't even make it all the way to the labs. They had speakers and debates and no violence, at least while we were there. We dodged a lot more cameras, and Claire and I got asked, "Are you with the press?"

I rather wanted to say yes. But we didn't, and wandered off home to pick up the rest of the (sleeping) gang and go for lunch. By the time we got back, there were no more protests outside college, thank god. We went to oust Pat from bed (it was about one thirty by then) and I considered going back and doing some reading, but didn't. As Claire said, haven't you learned much more about political theory in practice? And it's true; my reading for the week is about the varied conceptions and justifications for political liberty, and yes, the right to freedom of speech and protest. And I really, honestly believe in that freedom. So you could say I learned a bit today, despite the fact I am yet to start my essay work.

So, in conclusion, a good day. I got out of bed, washed the strawberry sauce out of my hair (good night last night; more on that anon), got my books, went out and engaged in direct democracy, and then had lunch. Now reading. But I thought it deserved talking about. This here is the only mention the BBC have yet.