Sunday 17 August 2014

White protest

I saw a report on the news last week about Heathrow Protesters, ( Protesting against a 3rd Runway at the Airport) and was amazed to see how much the camp had grown, and how settled they had become.
I wondered how they were able to simply 'occupy' a piece of land and not get moved on..
What.. no teargas?.. no curfew? No batons? rubber bullets? evictions? police on horses?..Police?


Where has the money come from to sustain this 'lifestyle' I wondered, do they have jobs?

So many questions..
Then I wondered.. Is this an example of White Privilege?

Has the right to protest become an issue of 'race'



I thought about protests undertaken by predominantly ' black communities' usually after what appears to be a very serious miscarriage of justice.
For example.. I thought about Smiley Culture , Mark Duggan and more recently what's happening in Ferguson after the shooting of Michael Brown [click]
.. and what a difference.


Often these people are made to feel as if they have no right.. somehow.. they are at fault. thier protests are 'racialized' very quickly. these are, after all.. the passionate, violent and emotional minorities.. being a common thought..no?

We've heard of White flight.. ( Where if an area starts to look as though to many black or brown people are moving in, the white people move out.. honest... its been studied a few times. It's quite disgusting actually)
I guess people don't like feeling like a minority huh

But are we missing White Protest?.
These 'eco' protests are not what I would call essential protests, yet they are treated very seriously, and have the potential to enact political change.
How come?

I'm very skeptical.


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