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I went to an anti-UKIP dempnstration yesterday, called to counter Nigel Farage launching his party's campaign for the Scottish European elections. (He had already launched the English campaign in Bath, where he was thrown out of a pub and the locals gave their forthright opinion of him.)
The demo had been organised fairly late on, probably since the UKIP leader has suffered at the hands of the capital's locals before when he had to be locked into a pub for his own safety. After that fiasco, rather than another boozer, Farage settled on a large concert hall and conference centre towards the west of the city, away from the centre.
The demo was called for 6pm, which was when I got there; there was a large crowd outside the hall, the Corn Exchange. There was a lot of chanting and th crowd split into two as some UKIP supporters were spotted trying to get into a side entrance.
Apparently, Farage was already inside.
The crowd was very good natured - a lot of laughs together with the jeers and boos whenever some possible UKIP supporters were spotted. (This was almost embarrassing: some people were going into a side door and got booed - it turns out they were going to a wedding in another part of the building! The crowd then turned to cheer and applaud them, which was rather sweet.)
There were speeches from organisers and politicians, more chanting and singing. Most of the chants I disagreed with, politically - as a paid up member of the capitalist society, I don't think profit is the evil thing that most of the demonstrators believed (once again, I was probably the most right wing person outside the Corn Exchange who wasn't a policeman; also, most but not all protestors seemed to support independence); nor do I feel that calling other members of society "Nazi scum" is really going to foster a spirit of dialogue.
Some of the chants were very funny, though; the only one that I can recall is "master race? You're having a laugh!" but there were many wittier.
The DIY posters were classy too. There was one which had amazing calligraphy; others followed the Father Ted rules for protests - "I strongly dislike UKIP", "UKIP aren't nice", both in the same hand. "Fuck UKIP" suggests they are all cunts, of course, which others verbalsied.
Despite any political differences, the crowd was very amiable; there were familiar faces from other demos I've been on in the last couple of years. The focus seemed to be on inclusivity - everyone is welcome in Scotland (except, of course, UKIP and other racists!). After the speeches, someone plugged some music into the PA and a party developed down at the front. I think it was the provisional wing of the university's Gay Soc - at least, most of their chants suggested they were gay, and the music verged towards the camp side of disco - everyone knew the moves to "YMCA", and all the words to "It's Raining Men" (even me!).
After over an hour and a half, I left, with UKIP sitll closeted inside; the singing and dancing was still going. Newspaper reports say there were only a couple of dozen 'kippers to over three hundred demonstrators. I really hope the European elections show a similar result.
The demo had been organised fairly late on, probably since the UKIP leader has suffered at the hands of the capital's locals before when he had to be locked into a pub for his own safety. After that fiasco, rather than another boozer, Farage settled on a large concert hall and conference centre towards the west of the city, away from the centre.
The demo was called for 6pm, which was when I got there; there was a large crowd outside the hall, the Corn Exchange. There was a lot of chanting and th crowd split into two as some UKIP supporters were spotted trying to get into a side entrance.
Apparently, Farage was already inside.
The crowd was very good natured - a lot of laughs together with the jeers and boos whenever some possible UKIP supporters were spotted. (This was almost embarrassing: some people were going into a side door and got booed - it turns out they were going to a wedding in another part of the building! The crowd then turned to cheer and applaud them, which was rather sweet.)
There were speeches from organisers and politicians, more chanting and singing. Most of the chants I disagreed with, politically - as a paid up member of the capitalist society, I don't think profit is the evil thing that most of the demonstrators believed (once again, I was probably the most right wing person outside the Corn Exchange who wasn't a policeman; also, most but not all protestors seemed to support independence); nor do I feel that calling other members of society "Nazi scum" is really going to foster a spirit of dialogue.
Some of the chants were very funny, though; the only one that I can recall is "master race? You're having a laugh!" but there were many wittier.
The DIY posters were classy too. There was one which had amazing calligraphy; others followed the Father Ted rules for protests - "I strongly dislike UKIP", "UKIP aren't nice", both in the same hand. "Fuck UKIP" suggests they are all cunts, of course, which others verbalsied.
Despite any political differences, the crowd was very amiable; there were familiar faces from other demos I've been on in the last couple of years. The focus seemed to be on inclusivity - everyone is welcome in Scotland (except, of course, UKIP and other racists!). After the speeches, someone plugged some music into the PA and a party developed down at the front. I think it was the provisional wing of the university's Gay Soc - at least, most of their chants suggested they were gay, and the music verged towards the camp side of disco - everyone knew the moves to "YMCA", and all the words to "It's Raining Men" (even me!).
After over an hour and a half, I left, with UKIP sitll closeted inside; the singing and dancing was still going. Newspaper reports say there were only a couple of dozen 'kippers to over three hundred demonstrators. I really hope the European elections show a similar result.
