Best Demo

[El Rojo]

but does anyone remember a favourite / best / awesome ect demo.

toss up between unpermitted street march in venezuela where the polce stood down coz they are on such a super short lead and a climate camp action in london

[Quail]

I quite enjoyed demonstrating against the BNP's RW&B, apart from the moment when this police woman on a horse said, "Oh don't worry, he's just scared of flags." I was thinking, wonderful, a huge, dangerous animal is scared of flags when there are loads of flags around.

It was also good avoiding the kettle when the EDL were in Nottingham. I'm sure the small group of us were more effective than all of UAF put together.

[Obs]

I quite enjoyed demonstrating against the BNP's RW&B, apart from the moment when this police woman on a horse said, "Oh don't worry, he's just scared of flags." I was thinking, wonderful, a huge, dangerous animal is scared of flags when there are loads of flags around.
Please tell me it tossed her off and stomped on her face.

[Martin Blank]

You mean demos we were in, or demos in general?

[El Rojo]

in. personal favourites

[Fullmetal Anarchist]

Personally I'm partial to this years Mayday.

[Q]

2 October 2004, Amsterdam: This was my first (and so far only) real experience of a real mass demonstration. 300 000+ people were packed on the Museumplein in Amsterdam, 75 000 more were stuck across the country trying to get there. All in order to oust the then cabinet Balkenende-2. The atmosphere was simply amazing.

It turned out to be a defeat (as if you expect something else) as the union leadership, one of the main organisers of the event and present with over 100 000 union members, quickly signed a deal with the government and presented that as some kind of achievement.

Here are some pictures, I couldn't find anything bigger though :(

http://indymedia.nl/img/2004/10/21883.jpg

http://indymedia.nl/img/2004/10/21884.jpg

[Black Sheep]

i think the half life 2 demo some years back was awesome.

[Honggweilo]

G8 Rostock, Riot p0rn ftw

[EvilRedGuy]

The best demos are those who has Atari Teenage Riot leading. :thumbup:

[Martin Blank]

I've been in a lot of demos. The biggest were the 1993 march for LGBT rights in Washington, D.C. (about 1 million) and the January 2007 antiwar march in Washington (1.1 million). My favorites, though, we much smaller:

* Painseville, OH, Anti-KKK Rally - About 15,000 antifascists, 20 fascists and 500 cops. The "pen" was that plastic orange snow fencing. I was one of the three main organizers. Routed the fascists, atomized the KKK group holding the rally, sent two cops to the hospital for not acknowledging they were against the KKK. Burned several Confederate and Nazi flags for the media. Local baseball team lined up and practiced pitching ice balls at KKK speaker 350 feet away. Some antifa still has the blonde ponytail of some neo-Nazi who ended up in the emergency room. Was the impetus for the 1994 conference that established the Midwest Anti-Fascist Network (MAFNet), the predecessor of the Anti-Racist Action Network (ARANet) in the U.S.

* Million Worker March - OK, it was only about 20,000 at the actual event (I had nothing to do with the organizing). But it was a fun experience. Decided to fly instead of drive. Airline lost my luggage. Had to walk from Newark Airport to Bergen County, NJ, to meet up with the comrades I was going with. Got lost. Someone called the cops on me. Got stopped and searched right outside of the comrade's house I was supposed to go to. Rest of the trip was cool and smooth. Glad I got it all out of the way at the beginning.

* The First National Antiwar Rally after 9/11 - The 250,000 of us there really had the gall to march on the White House and demand Bush withdraw from Afghanistan. ANSWER was a newborn (organized by WWP, before PSL split) and UFPJ was more an idea than a coalition. Several confrontations with rightwingers. Chatted up a BBC reporter for a while, filling him in on who was who (groups, etc.).

* The First Anti-Inaugural of George W. Bush - Oh, this one was a winner. Very small (a few thousand) in a sea of newly-minted corporatists. Cops. Pepper spray. Batons and shields. Very presidential.

* USGraphite Picket and Rally - My first demo, in the small city where I grew up. About 1,000 UAW members surrounding the USGraphite plant to protest its impending closure. First real political intervention, at age 16 ... all by myself in a sea of middle-aged autoworkers, Democratic politicians and union officials. The start of something beautiful.

[bcbm]

may day berlin