A protest organiser in Notts

This July in Nottingham we will celebrate Pride. The annual pride celebration is now so embedded in the culture of the city, that it is no longer seen mainly as a protest event. Similar events take place across the UK with the same level of engagement from across society, LGBTQ+ people and many more. But it is not that long ago in Britain, and is still the case in many parts of the world, that LGBTQ+ people were/are unable to protest against unjust discrimination and prejudice, let alone celebrate their identity.

We should not forget that Section 28 of the Children’s Act, prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality, came into law under the Thatcher Government less than forty years ago. Whilst section 28 has long since been repealed, largely due to huge protests movements made possible by the right to protest, the right to protest itself is now under threat in the UK and beyond.

In many ways, the right to protest is the key to all other rights, because protest has been at the centre of winning rights, often at great cost to protesters.

In 1819, 60,000 mainly working-class people marched on St Peter’s Field in Manchester, demanding the right to vote. The marchers were attacked by the military, and to this day the number of dead and injured is unknown. The ruling class and parties in 1819 were reluctantly willing to concede a limited extension of the franchise, but were determined to deny voting rights to those they regarded as the ignorant mass of the population. Nevertheless, it is no accident that universal suffrage was achieved a little over one hundred years after what became known as the Peterloo Massacre, culminating in equal voting rights for women in 1928.

The right to protest in Britain remains, despite legal changes in recent years. Here in Nottingham over the past two years alone, there have been regular marches and rallies, with little interference by the police to stop protests or, despite threats, restrict the messages of protestors. Between 2022 and 2023, there have been numerous big marches in the city, as well as many smaller events, over the cost-of-living crisis and demands by unions for higher wages.

As well as the big annual Pride celebrations, there have been Trans Rights protests at Brian Clough Statue on regular occasions. There have been protests and counter protests related to abortion rights. Since 2021, several protests have been organised against proposed new laws restricting the right to protest, with trade unions and other campaigners demanding Parliament reject laws restricting such rights. Alongside such restrictive laws, the Government has made huge cuts to local authority funding, leading to protests in defence of services such as libraries, concessionary travel passes, community centres and more, with some considerable protest success stories, especially on libraries and tram travel. Finally, protests on international issues have been frequent in the city for many years, with recent marches, rallies and static protests on Iran, Kurdistan, Hong Kong, Ukraine and, since 7 October, huge protests about the ongoing slaughter in Gaza.

In the city where protestors burned down the Castle in 1831 in pursuit of voting rights, Nottingham is known for a spirit of rebellion and no rebellion has begun without protest, from the Peasants Revolt to the Chartists and onto the Suffragettes.

Protest rights vary from country to country, and can change over time in any country, for better or worse. The situation in the UK is worsening, whilst in countries like Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, the USA and Sri Lanka mass detention of protestors is not uncommon.

In Europe the number of far-right authoritarian governments peddling anti-migrant nationalist, intolerant ideologies represent a direct and intentional threat to the right to protest. In this context nothing can be taken for granted but history shows that, if we continue to stand up for the right to protest and for human rights more generally, we can protect freedom of expression, the right to protest and defeat the far right.

Back in the 1980’s, the Thatcher Government began restricting the right to strike, restricting numbers on picket lines and banning secondary strike action like that which occurred in support of NHS workers in 1982. Those limits on the rights of workers to defend pay, conditions and services at work have continued up to very recent times, for example with the 2015 law introducing very high balloting thresholds to enable lawful industrial action. Even before Thatcher’s assault on trade union rights, workers found themselves battling the police on picket lines, such as at Saltley Gates in 1972 and Grunwick in 1976, where inspirational Asian women workers demanded the right to protest about appalling conditions at work. The Women’s Peace camps at Greenham Common from 1981 demanding the removal of US cruise missiles were often confronted by the forces of the law, but they continued against the odds and influenced similar protests across Europe. And who can forget the huge and hugely successful anti-Poll Tax demonstration in 1990 which was instrumental in bringing down Margaret Thatcher and ending the poll tax itself. Unfortunately, an even bigger march against the approaching Iraq War in 2003 failed to avert that tragic conflict.

Recent crackdowns on protest are very concerning, with draconian legal actions taken against environmental groups like Just Stop Oil (JSO) and suggestions from the Government that regular marches against the slaughter in Gaza should be restricted. In March this year former Labour MP John Woodcock wrote in the anti-protest Sun newspaper that political parties “should instruct their MPs and councillors not to engage with anyone from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign until they get their house in order and cut the hate from their marches [or with] hardline environmental groups like Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil…” Woodcock simply wants to ban marches where he doesn’t approve of the political objectives of the protestors.

The Conservative Government has become the mortal enemy of protest. In 2021, over thirty jail sentences were served following a Kill the Bill protest in Bristol. The prison terms amounted to more than 100 years of jail time. JSO protester Marcus Decker has served the longest sentence for peaceful protest in British history: 490 days when he was released on bail on 19 February. He now faces deportation from Britain. (He is a German citizen with ‘leave to remain’). The powers to jail Marcus derived from the Police Act of 2022.

Sadly, the years of Labour Government from 1997 to 2010 did not see any significant restoration of rights. For example all the anti-union laws from the 1980s and 90s remained on the statute book, thus severely restricting protest rights in the workplace. A Labour Government looks likely to be in power after 4 July, but despite vague promises on repealing some labour law restrictions, the Labour Party’s insistence that Labour is ‘not a party of protest’ doesn’t instil much optimism on improved legal rights to protest in the near future.

Nevertheless, we must continue to demand the repeal of all laws restricting the right to protest, including anti-union laws and those restricting our ability to organise on the streets with marches, rallies and similar events. We should demand from our millions strong trade union movement that they support campaigns in defence of the right to protest and encourage union members to join marches and rallies in defence of our protest rights and many other human rights. These rights were often won by protest and we have to fight to keep and extend such rights irrespective of the party in Government.