Hardwired into the reptilian part of my brain is the a strong instinct to run away very quickly from large groups of people carrying union jacks. It probably saved the lives of countless of my ancestors. Today’s Strangers Into Citizens demonstration required that bit of programming to be overridden. Lots and lots of the marchers were carrying small and large butchers’ aprons to affirm that they have as much right to be treated with dignity as anyone else. You’d need to be a seriously ultra-left idiot to tell them that they were wrong to do so.
The organisation behind the demonstration calls for “a one-off regularisation of long-term irregular migrants in the UK” and each year pulls together the most impressive demonstration in London. It’s more than just impressive. This may sound a bit wimpish but it’s also quite emotionally affecting. I watched a group of Congolese participants proudly dance and sing their way into Trafalgar Square and like many of the others there these are the people who clean the offices and do all the jobs in this city for a wage around the national minimum with no job security. Today they took over the symbolic heart of London.
The only posters I saw for today’s event were in the foyer of the local Catholic church which each year sends along several parishioners. (I only know this because it’s across the street from the swimming pool.) Unusually for a London demo it was easier to find a priest than a lefty paper seller though I did trip over Jim who was even more enthusiastic about the event than I was. The churches build this event which is barely a blip on the left’s radar and this is truly shameful. Of course the gulf between what small left groups say and do, the lives of the people on the demo and the community and support their churches give them does not bear thinking about.
Of the advertised speakers the Greens had the highest profile among the political parties with both Jean Lambert and Darren Johnson on the platform. Labour missed a trick by not sending that awful man Tony Mc Nulty or Phil Woolas. They would have gone down a storm with their Daily Mail racism lite. As for the rest they were largely from religious organisations.
For my money this demo is the highlight of the political calendar. Once a year the voiceless and invisible hyper-exploited workers of London take to the streets and make themselves heard. They are a multitude drawn from every corner of the planet and maybe, just maybe, they are starting to get a sense of their power and numbers.
Liam redux 
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