Sunday, 5 April 2009
G20 Protest - 2009
A video I made about my experience of the Reclaim The Streets Protest, on 4th April 2009, Bank of England.
The day started off quite peacefully, with the march from Moorgate (one of 4) being a relaxed affair, people walking up the street towards Bank using loadhailers to get across their political messages. The crowd was mixed - eco warriors, free Palestine demonstrators, financial crime haters, jobless civilians fighting for answers and black bloc anarchists.
Threadneedle St started to get packed as early as 12:30pm, with police throwing smoke bombs into crowds for no apparent reason, riot cops trying to force crowds back in on themselves in an effort to 'contain' them, and beating people up with trunchens the minute the protestors got too close.
The police barracaded tens of thousandsof people into Bank, with all five roads leading out of the junction being controlled by scores of police on horses, with riot shields, helmets and batons. At one point when filming, I was pushed though the crowd of riot police, and was lucky to have escaped with only an elbow to my face.
Later on, we went to Climate Camp. This section isnt covered in my film, as by then my battery had ran out, but it started as a peaceful protest in the middle of Bishopsgate (right next to Liverpool Street), where a few thousand people had set up tents, occupying the main road completly, playing music, and handing out free food to hungry demonstrators. However, after a few hours, the police started to infringe on this peace, and began to move in on the crowds, blocking us in from both sides, and also blocking the other thousands of protestors who were a couple of streets away on Threadneedle St from being able to reach us. The police were shitting themselves really, but made up for their fear by hitting people who were sitting down in protest, and not letting anybody out for over 4 hours
By around midnight, we were set free. Shouting 'we are not prisoners', me and my friends walked all the way home from Liverpool Street to Dalston.
13 Hours of Protest.
The day started off quite peacefully, with the march from Moorgate (one of 4) being a relaxed affair, people walking up the street towards Bank using loadhailers to get across their political messages. The crowd was mixed - eco warriors, free Palestine demonstrators, financial crime haters, jobless civilians fighting for answers and black bloc anarchists.
Threadneedle St started to get packed as early as 12:30pm, with police throwing smoke bombs into crowds for no apparent reason, riot cops trying to force crowds back in on themselves in an effort to 'contain' them, and beating people up with trunchens the minute the protestors got too close.
The police barracaded tens of thousandsof people into Bank, with all five roads leading out of the junction being controlled by scores of police on horses, with riot shields, helmets and batons. At one point when filming, I was pushed though the crowd of riot police, and was lucky to have escaped with only an elbow to my face.
Later on, we went to Climate Camp. This section isnt covered in my film, as by then my battery had ran out, but it started as a peaceful protest in the middle of Bishopsgate (right next to Liverpool Street), where a few thousand people had set up tents, occupying the main road completly, playing music, and handing out free food to hungry demonstrators. However, after a few hours, the police started to infringe on this peace, and began to move in on the crowds, blocking us in from both sides, and also blocking the other thousands of protestors who were a couple of streets away on Threadneedle St from being able to reach us. The police were shitting themselves really, but made up for their fear by hitting people who were sitting down in protest, and not letting anybody out for over 4 hours
By around midnight, we were set free. Shouting 'we are not prisoners', me and my friends walked all the way home from Liverpool Street to Dalston.
13 Hours of Protest.
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
London Ink
Well, it's been a while since ive posted.
Not only have I moved house, but also become a mini celebrity.
20,880 hits so far on youtube, and counting. :)
Not only have I moved house, but also become a mini celebrity.
20,880 hits so far on youtube, and counting. :)
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Halloween : When London Let Me Down
Monday - Sat down, put pen to paper and designed costume for Halloween. Got excited about being a squatterbitch black cat.
Wednesday - Made Black Leather Cat Ears (out of old leather coat). Leather was so tough that needle had to be rammed through material by pushing it with the force of a chair. Took an hour, and my fingers hurt.
Thursday - Ran out and bought Dita Knickers with attached suspenders from Ann Summers, and pvc fingerless gloves. I was getting wet at the thought of dressing like a cat, complete with ripped stockings and bushy black and white tail.
Friday - Spent 2 hours applying bruise makeup, collar bone shadows, sewing Cat Ears to my dreadlocks, ripping up stockings and painting alleycat scratches onto the exposed skin surfaces, painting a nose and whiskers on my face with liquid eyeliner, and then setting out into the night with a lack of anything material based covering my body, on the frosty streets of Halloween : London.
Arrived at 'Sin', on my way to Club Antichrist (where it usually is). Wasnt sure what to expect from a straight 'Fetish, Goth and Industrial' Playspace, complete with Dungeon and stage performances, but was willing to give it a go. Except - it wasnt at Sin. POPSTARZ was at Sin. Tried to find an internet cafe, tried to text friends who were also out, tried to find SOMETHING that was free. To no avail. Nobody responded to my texts. Felt unloved and gutted... :(
Freezing, hungry, sober and numb, we returned home...
Our only consolation was some slow fucking in my warm bed.
No matter... we have tomorrow to look forward to...
Saturday - Woke up - let down, but energised. Left at 10pm. The biggest squat party of the year, 'ScumoWeen', was happening tonight. Eager to go and happy to try and salvage the weekend I celebrate the most, we set off (after getting into my cat costume for the second time). Got to Dalston. NOBODY was at the squat. I still hadnt recieved any texts. I turned off my phone, smashed it against the floor, and turned it on again. 11 TEXTS HAD ALL BEEN WAITING TO ENTER MY PHONE FROM CYBERSPACE. Flabberghasted, I saw there were texts from the friends i'd had written to directing me to a party etc, making me feel even more miserable. I had a text saying there was a free gig on Church Street. We went down there. IT HAD FINISHED. No matter - we went back to Dalston. It was raining and cold. The squatters turned up at 1am. We left at 2am. Called partyline for Scum-O-Ween - party was on....
HANGER LANE... >:(
Fucking hell. Journey planner said 2.5 hours.
We said 'ok, lets do it, it'll be amazing.'
38 to Angel, 205 to Baker Street, N18 to Hanger Lane.
20 min walk to industrial estate.
2.5 hours later from when we had set off, we were there.
All MDMA'd up, high as a kite, and (suprisingly) in good spirits.
IT WAS LIKE A MOB. FULL. WAS NOW A LOCK IN.
There were CROWDS of people saying they'd been queuing for over 4 HOURS. We tried to find a back entrance, we tried to climb over walls, but nothing worked. Not only that - but you had to pay TEN QUID to get in, as well as there being 7 FUCKING SOUND SYSTEMS IN ONE ROOM???!!!
Defeated, cold, 5am - we left.
Back to the squat, another 2 hours later. Hungry, tired... having spend Halloween on the buses, in full costume, all weekend.
NEVER GO TO SCUMOWEEN.
ITS FUCKING BULLSHIT.
NOTE TO SELF AND EVERYONE ELSE.
Dont just take my word for it...
http://www.partyvibe.com/forums/chatter/33816-scumoween.html
The weekend that London Let Me Down. *cries*
Wednesday - Made Black Leather Cat Ears (out of old leather coat). Leather was so tough that needle had to be rammed through material by pushing it with the force of a chair. Took an hour, and my fingers hurt.
Thursday - Ran out and bought Dita Knickers with attached suspenders from Ann Summers, and pvc fingerless gloves. I was getting wet at the thought of dressing like a cat, complete with ripped stockings and bushy black and white tail.
Friday - Spent 2 hours applying bruise makeup, collar bone shadows, sewing Cat Ears to my dreadlocks, ripping up stockings and painting alleycat scratches onto the exposed skin surfaces, painting a nose and whiskers on my face with liquid eyeliner, and then setting out into the night with a lack of anything material based covering my body, on the frosty streets of Halloween : London.
Arrived at 'Sin', on my way to Club Antichrist (where it usually is). Wasnt sure what to expect from a straight 'Fetish, Goth and Industrial' Playspace, complete with Dungeon and stage performances, but was willing to give it a go. Except - it wasnt at Sin. POPSTARZ was at Sin. Tried to find an internet cafe, tried to text friends who were also out, tried to find SOMETHING that was free. To no avail. Nobody responded to my texts. Felt unloved and gutted... :(
Freezing, hungry, sober and numb, we returned home...
Our only consolation was some slow fucking in my warm bed.
No matter... we have tomorrow to look forward to...
Saturday - Woke up - let down, but energised. Left at 10pm. The biggest squat party of the year, 'ScumoWeen', was happening tonight. Eager to go and happy to try and salvage the weekend I celebrate the most, we set off (after getting into my cat costume for the second time). Got to Dalston. NOBODY was at the squat. I still hadnt recieved any texts. I turned off my phone, smashed it against the floor, and turned it on again. 11 TEXTS HAD ALL BEEN WAITING TO ENTER MY PHONE FROM CYBERSPACE. Flabberghasted, I saw there were texts from the friends i'd had written to directing me to a party etc, making me feel even more miserable. I had a text saying there was a free gig on Church Street. We went down there. IT HAD FINISHED. No matter - we went back to Dalston. It was raining and cold. The squatters turned up at 1am. We left at 2am. Called partyline for Scum-O-Ween - party was on....
HANGER LANE... >:(
Fucking hell. Journey planner said 2.5 hours.
We said 'ok, lets do it, it'll be amazing.'
38 to Angel, 205 to Baker Street, N18 to Hanger Lane.
20 min walk to industrial estate.
2.5 hours later from when we had set off, we were there.
All MDMA'd up, high as a kite, and (suprisingly) in good spirits.
IT WAS LIKE A MOB. FULL. WAS NOW A LOCK IN.
There were CROWDS of people saying they'd been queuing for over 4 HOURS. We tried to find a back entrance, we tried to climb over walls, but nothing worked. Not only that - but you had to pay TEN QUID to get in, as well as there being 7 FUCKING SOUND SYSTEMS IN ONE ROOM???!!!
Defeated, cold, 5am - we left.
Back to the squat, another 2 hours later. Hungry, tired... having spend Halloween on the buses, in full costume, all weekend.
NEVER GO TO SCUMOWEEN.
ITS FUCKING BULLSHIT.
NOTE TO SELF AND EVERYONE ELSE.
Dont just take my word for it...
http://www.partyvibe.com/forums/chatter/33816-scumoween.html
The weekend that London Let Me Down. *cries*
Friday, 17 October 2008
My Dream About Energy Efficiency
On my long painful lonely journey back frm Dalston last night on a quiet double decker bus at 3:30am, I began to fall asleep...
I dreamt of light and energy - maybe a combination of the passing hazy road side lamps as well as the glint of the buses own internal lights in my retinas - and my dreams woke me.
My head leaning on the window, my eyes slowly opening, and I noticed the endless light pouring from the side streets, high streets and alleyways. It was 3:30am - so why on earth were all the lights on in EVERY SINGLE SHOP?? Starbucks, Pret, Argos, Cafe's. Each and every shop - with full use of their electricity, as if in use during the day.
We are living in a world where consumption of energy needs to be reconsidered to save our planet, and companies are forever advertising that they are 'greener' in a bid to keep existing customers entangled in their web, and also snare new green consumers.
SO WHY ARE THEY WASTING ENERGY EVERY NIGHT?
Its so hypocritical that there are televised ads telling us at home to 'do our bit' by switching off our lights when not in use. Why has'nt anybody approached big companies like this to do the same?
Maybe somebody of importance will read this...
Maybe.
I dreamt of light and energy - maybe a combination of the passing hazy road side lamps as well as the glint of the buses own internal lights in my retinas - and my dreams woke me.
My head leaning on the window, my eyes slowly opening, and I noticed the endless light pouring from the side streets, high streets and alleyways. It was 3:30am - so why on earth were all the lights on in EVERY SINGLE SHOP?? Starbucks, Pret, Argos, Cafe's. Each and every shop - with full use of their electricity, as if in use during the day.
We are living in a world where consumption of energy needs to be reconsidered to save our planet, and companies are forever advertising that they are 'greener' in a bid to keep existing customers entangled in their web, and also snare new green consumers.
SO WHY ARE THEY WASTING ENERGY EVERY NIGHT?
Its so hypocritical that there are televised ads telling us at home to 'do our bit' by switching off our lights when not in use. Why has'nt anybody approached big companies like this to do the same?
Maybe somebody of importance will read this...
Maybe.
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
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