Minimal

Last Saturday, I attended the Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh, accompanied by Ashley and Daisy. I hadn’t exactly read up much on the issues beforehand and went primarily to experience it and hopefully learn something along the way. And, I figured, at least I would be able to say I’d done something—even if it was solely based on me trusting Sir Bob’s word.

On the day, I managed to feel rather out of place. Something of a puppet. A sheep, even. Standing amid thousands in the baking sun, I felt part of something special for a grand total of about 5 seconds. And that was entirely down to some motivational VT playing out on the big screen. On the whole, I felt little optimism. If over a million people marched against the Iraq war and made no difference, what could a couple of hundred thousand manage here? Nothing immediate, that’s for sure.

One of the problems with these sorts of protests always seems to be the lack of focus. The Make Poverty History campaign actually seemed to have done a pretty good job in distilling its aims into 3 key points (trade justice, debt relief and more aid), but its message was still diluted. Every other pressure group you could think of had gatecrashed the event. Anarchists, anti-capitalists, anti-war campaigners, anti-nuclear campaigners, Palestinian liberation campaigners and plenty more besides. I guess I felt a little disillusioned at what seemed like an opportunity being missed.

Ultimately, however, it wasn’t the reality of the event that mattered, but how it was reported in the media. If it was to inspire further action, it had to at least be heard about. What concerned me most was that the Live 8 concerts were happening at exactly the same time and, I feared, likely to get more column inches. How could a series of pop concerts be more important than what was happening here? And how many thousands of people had been diverted to Hyde Park instead of The Meadows? Maybe all publicity is good publicity, but seeing the march relegated to page 12 of the next day’s paper was a bit gutting.

And now, do I feel any differently? Not really. I’m glad I went, but I don’t expect anything great to come of the Gleneagles summit. I’m also a little disappointed by the turn-out in Edinburgh. Not so much by the numbers, but by the fact there didn’t seem to be many average Joes like myself there. There were only seasoned campaigners and their families. For anything like this to really have an impact, it’s got to have an appeal far beyond the Guardian’s readership. Anyway, I hope the people in Hyde Park enjoyed the gig. Wish I’d seen it too.