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Take Back Manchester Demo 4th October

pinkolady | 06.10.2015 00:24 | Public sector cuts

The Take Back Manchester march, organised by the TUC and the People's Assembly, took over the city centre on Sunday. It was peaceable, vibrant, positive. But not according to the national press.

I checked the national press coverage online after the march. It is a truism that the national press either ignores or vilifies demonstrators, but even by its usual standards, the reports were appalling. Every last newspaper aimed to make the marchers appear abnormal, thuggish, Other. The only photographs are of people chanting, so that their faces look distorted. Those, and ones of the single Tory who got egged.

This is a demonstration that to my knowledge included teachers, junior doctors, ambulance drivers, fire service workers, local government officials, support workers from a local homeless charity, paralegals and trainee barristers. Those are just the people I know about.

I have an idea that the media's reaction is down to fear, not just of the demonstrators, but of the figurehead who embodies their rejection of Tory values; that is, Jeremy Corbyn. It seems I'm not the only person with that idea. Mark Steel, addressing the rally at Castlefields at the end of the demonstration, said the Establishment are scared of “a man who rides a bike and cultivates an allotment” because he gives people hope that they can get rid of the Party that has been trashing their lives for the past 6 years.

Of course, it remains to be seen how long he lasts, since he is not universally popular with his own Party's M.P.s . And not all of the speakers at the rally went in for leader-worship. At least four out of the ten spoke of people coming together to take direct action to get rid of the Tories. Now, that's what should really scare the Establishment.

(photos and video footage on www.meanwhile2015.blogspot.com )

pinkolady