Political Dynamite update on what's going on...

The TUC ‘March for the Alternative’ on Saturday will make history. That much is clear. What is not yet clear, is how.

Reportedly there more than 850 coaches are coming from around the country and 10 chartered trains. Awareness of the march in London is also very high. Some people on coaches may be dropped off in outer London and be required to catch the tube in to town.

The starting point for the main march is 11am on Victoria Embankment, although the march may still be leaving the Victoria Embankment at 2. It will then pass past Parliament Square; up Whitehall to Trafalgar Sq, over to Regent St; down Piccadilly and enter Hyde Park.through the streets of London to Hyde Park, where it will be addressed by Trade Union leaders.

The only politician on the platform will be Ed Miliband. The decision to include Miliband on the podium has proven somewhat contraversial because of his support for cuts and his role in the Labour Government at the time of the financial crisis.

As there are various alternatives to cuts, different people with different viewpoints will make their points in different ways.

Political Dynamite will have ‘embedded’ bloggers with different parts of the day’s activities and will be tweeting on the day too (follow @poldyn). If you can’t make it you can do your bit by tweeting too.

Here’s a taster of just some of the groupings on the day that have been circulated on social media. There will be many more (note these have mostly been organised autonomously)

Before it starts

Bike Bloc/Hackney meetup point

Meet 10am Hackney Town Hall for a critical mass in to London, reminding people to come on the march. People from Hackney going in by public transport will also be meeting up here, as well as at Homerton Hospital at 9.30am.

South London feeder march

11am, Kennington Park (nearest tube Oval) . Will include Latin American Bloc and Radical Workers’ Bloc.

East London feeder march

10.45am, Altab Ali Park, Whitechapel Rd (bottom of Brick Lane)

Central London

11am, Lincolns Inn Fields, WC2

Education Blocs

ULU, Malet St, from 10am to march off at 11:30am
LSE, Houghton St, 11-11:30am
KCL, The Strand, 11:30am
Westminster Kingsway College, Kings Cross Centre; meet 10am on Grays Inn Road

Haringey

Activists from Haringey Alliance for Public Services are meeting at 10am on 26th March at both Turnpike Lane and Seven Sisters tube stations to travel to the protest.

For the march

Trades Unions

Each trade union has a designated assembly point at the start of the march running along the Victoria Embankment. Walk along until you find yours.

For example the Federation of Entertainment Unions – Equity, Musicians union, BECTU, NUJ, Writers Guild and the PFA – will be marching together, meeting at ‘position 13′ on the Embankment. They say they have a soundsystem.

London and Eastern UNITE also be there, on the Embankment, somewhere between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo, near to Cleaopatra’s needle where there will be two huge red Unite balloons.

Westminster UNISON will meet at 10:00am on Saturday 26th March outside City Hall before joining the main UNISON meet up. UNISON is likely to have giant purple balloons.

The Royal College of Nurses headquarters is open for members from 9-10 for tea and coffee and to pick up T-shirts.

6 Billion Ways Bloc

Supporters of Jubilee Debt campaign, War on Want, Friends of the Earth and others will meet where Temple Place meets Surrey Street on the Victoria Embankment at 11am.

Green Party Bloc

Green Party supporters will meet at Temple Tube at 10.30

Climate and Cuts

Activists seeking to show the links between Climate Change and Cuts will meet under Waterloo Bridge (South side), outside the BFI, at 11.30am

Quakers March for the Alternative

Meet in front of Westminster Friends Meeting House, 52 St Martins Lane, London, WC2N 4EA at 11 for a 30-minute meeting for worship at 11.30. More info here

Puppets for protest

Meeting Point – 11am – Jubilee Gardens (behind the London Eye), County Hall, London SE1 7PB. Bring a pupper. No strings attached (bum bum). More info here

Woodcraft Folk bloc

11.30 at Lincoln’s Inn Fields

Buggy bloc

For people with children. Meeting point Victoria Embankment Gardens at 11.30am. More info here. 

Women’s bloc

10am outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand, WC2A 2LL, and departing at 10.30am. Includes Women MPs such as Harriet Harman. Will be followed by direct action. It is unconfirmed whether Harriet Harman will be involved in this part.

Welfare not warfare bloc (CND and Stop the War Coalition)

Meet on Embankment, by the moored ship HMS President, 11 o clock

Black triangle and disabled people’s bloc

Savoy Street (behind the Savoy Hotel & The Strand) W1

Pink and Black Bloc

Soho Square, London W1D, 10am, Called by Queer Resistance

Sound off for justice protest choir

Welcoming anyone who can sing. Setting off from the Royal Courts of Justice at 10.45am. Will be marching with the Justice for All Campaign, highlighting cuts to Legal Aid

Alternative Master of Fine Arts

London’s Alternative MFA group will be texting updates to form part of a piece at an art exhibition in Margate where they will be read out through megaphones

At the same time as the march

UK Uncut: ‘Occupy for the Alternative’

* 2pm – UK Uncut groups from across the country will target banks and shops on Oxford Street
* 3.30pm – UK Uncut will announce and occupy a secret target – and aim to stay for as long as possible

Alternative, autonomous rally

Hyde Park – at the fountain next to Park Lane hosted by IWW, 15:30 – 18:30

After the march

Turn Trafalgar Square into Tahrir Square

A call has gone out for an occupation of Trafalgar Square for 24 hours after the march. More info here. and http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=198808963474182

Occupy Hyde Park

A call out has also been made to occupy Hyde Park after the march. Bring your camping stuff. More info here.

Earth Hour

WWF’s ‘Earth Hour’ will be at 8.30 . More information here

Hackney Social

Hackney Alliance to Defend Public Services will have a fundraiser after the march at 8pm at Victoria Dalston, E8 3AS. More details here.

TSSA Social

There will be a post-march social event for TSSA members at The Square Tavern in Tolmers Square (at the junction of Euston St and North Gower St, near Walkden House). There will be a range of food and light refreshments available from 16:00 hours.

Other things going on

Samba bands including Rhythms of Resistance, people with sock puppets, a book bloc, trade union bands, the bigger society sound system and the Green and Black Cross legal observers (Green and Black Cross Legal Observers will wear orange, as distinct from the Liberty Legal observers who are working with the police and will wear Green).

What’s your plan?

What ever you do, download the bust card and bring it with you from www.ldmg.org.uk

http://politicaldynamite.com/2011/03/26-march-whats-your-plan/