Marchers carrying banners with the word 'queer' displayed on them were forbidden from displaying them at yesterday's Gay Pride event in London
Blundering cops decided that the word was 'offensive', and the lack of any real presence from the anarchist scene meant that any kind of resistance was pointless. Someone wearing a t-shirt which read 'anarchists make better lovers' was also ordered to cover it up as this was also deemed 'offensive' by those arbiters of good taste the London Met.
Politics is not allowed at Pride it seems, which seems to more of an excuse for some corporate back-slapping about how right on companies like Lloyds Bank and British Airways are.
Not even the SWP was able to muster a paper seller, although neo-labour did manage have a stall of course.
Rhythms of Resistance were able to lighten the mood after the parade, playing to a couple of hundred folk in the rain, first on Compton Street and then later in Soho Square ... which was fun.
But for all Ken's platitudes from the stage about the struggle for equality this event was depoliticised and sterile, and clearly the handful of queer anarchists present were not greeted with solidarity by the armies of gay cops dotted around Soho.
As a party, well it was a fun day out, as a political event, if it was ever intended to be one, it was a failure.
Perhaps people think that the struggle is over, the thousands of victims of homophobic or transphobic violence may disagree ... but hey, don't let that stop the party.
Politics is not allowed at Pride it seems, which seems to more of an excuse for some corporate back-slapping about how right on companies like Lloyds Bank and British Airways are.
Not even the SWP was able to muster a paper seller, although neo-labour did manage have a stall of course.
Rhythms of Resistance were able to lighten the mood after the parade, playing to a couple of hundred folk in the rain, first on Compton Street and then later in Soho Square ... which was fun.
But for all Ken's platitudes from the stage about the struggle for equality this event was depoliticised and sterile, and clearly the handful of queer anarchists present were not greeted with solidarity by the armies of gay cops dotted around Soho.
As a party, well it was a fun day out, as a political event, if it was ever intended to be one, it was a failure.
Perhaps people think that the struggle is over, the thousands of victims of homophobic or transphobic violence may disagree ... but hey, don't let that stop the party.
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