I still haven't fixed my bike and need to get a few miles across town in less than 30 minutes so begrudgingly I order a taxi. Today is going to be a very big day. I've got Global Youth Work training from 10 til 4 and have to be at the waterfall with megaphone, flyers and courage in tow by 5pm. I've been losing sleep about today all week and a part of me just wants it over and done with. I arrive at JET on Normanton Road, say peace to Karnage and Ruth before sniffing out the coffee. I display some of the M.A.D solidarity leaflets and then take my seat in the circle with the rest of the staff.
Ruth begins with an Icebreaker called Fruit Salad, which I renamed Stand & be counted, where you have one person in the middle of the circle who makes a statement such as “Stand & be counted if ever you've ever been on a protest.”. Anyone who has been on a protest has to get out of their seat and find another seat, which inevitably leaves someelse stood in the middle of the circle as one chair has been taken out of the arrangement. This is an active fun and interesting way to get people identifying common ground and seems to work every time. After we played Stand & Be Counted Ruth gave a presentation about Global Youth Work and the Back From the Edge project which she is running over two years with Baby T School staff and Kingsmead Staff. The aim being that we start to embed Global Youth Work into our practise more. Global Youth Work is basically an approach that aims to help young people connect with the issues that impact upon their lives and understand the links between the personal, local, national and global. It aims to help young people understand that there lives are interconnected with the lives of others globally and be aware of the far reaching ripples that are daily decisions make. It aims to help young people become active global citizens that take action to create a more just, sustainable and equitable planet. The training was really good as we did a variety of activities that helped us to explore various issues from racism to inequality, sexism to peer pressure and various issues inbetween as well as what action we could take to make a positive difference. My heart started to beat faster and my adrenaline started flowing as the clock got ever closer to 3.30.
I got my things and marched up Normanton Road towards Ruths house where I got ready. I put on my black trousers, white shirt and orange tie. I found the white Speedo swimming cap and squeezed my head into it before embarking upon the delicate process of painting my face like a skeletons. I checked my camcorder, made sure I had the M.A.D solidarity flyers, the clipboards, notepads and pens, packed my megaphone, picked up my keys, phone, quids and camouglage cap and headed into town with Ruth. Walking through town dressed like an alienated office working skeleton was surprisingly good fun. The reactions from people were mixed but it added a little spice to the day. Once we arrived at the waterfall some good friends started to show up who had kindly offered to help out with filming, taking photos, handing out flyers, talking to passers by and showing support by spectating. Stevie Lonestar kicked things off on the megaphone whilst we were waiting for Johnny by singing some of his classic covers to the good people of Derby. Johnny arrived dressed in a black suit, black tie, white shirt, black hat and dark sunglasses as he was giving birth to a new character, an MI5 agent that rumour has it may actually be behind the murder of the beard man. Some people even say that he is the beard man reformed. That the bearded man was hunted down by the MI5 due to his anti-authoritarian activities, captured, his beard forcefully shaved off and dealt with room 101 style. Who knows? I picked up the megaphone, took a deep breath, climbed the winding steps up the back of the waterfall, looked over the city, lifted the megaphone to my lips and began. I intended to make a simple public announcement regarding upcoming events such as that evenings City-Zen, the Love Music Hate Racism event and the Spending Cuts workshop yet couldn't resist laying into RBS, Natwest, Barclays, Bradford & Bingley and expressing my disgust with the current redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich which is currently being conducted. It felt good to declare such important truths so publicly and made me wonder why we hadn't been doing this sort of thing sooner. I passed the megaphone over to Johnny climbed back down the steps and enjoyed his hilarious antic from afar with everyone else. “Don't listen to him, he's a benefit scrounger, an anarchist, a hippy... keep your eyes to the floor, keep on walking and go about your day” He then went on to recite the lyrics to Crass songs as we took it in turns utilising the megaphone for about an hour. We had loads of fun, shook things up a little bit and thanks to K, M, C and others handing out the flyers managed to raise awareness about some really important events happening in Derby. This was us dipping our toes into the spectacle and are both aware that it was far from ideal. We hope to do something again soon with more people involved in performing, speaking, spectating, handing out flyers, etc, but ultimately we want to make it more participatory and less of a spectacle. It was what it was and we felt good so at least it was a step in the right direction.
The City-Zen that evening, despite being a bit thin on the ground, was beautiful. The atmopshere was so positive, fun and friendly and everyone contributed their own bit in their own way making it a kaleidoscopic evening full of weird and wonderful things. There were City-Zines, stickers, a free shop, some beautiful vegan food, board games were being played, there was spoken word, comedy, a question time slot, short films, visuals and live music. Everyone seemed to be having an enjoyable time and loads of people expressed to me how much they enjoyed themselves. All in all a significantly good day. One to remember. x
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