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Mayday in Oxford is fairly famous. Thousands of people attend the festivities every year. At dawn, the Magdalen College choir sings from the college tower. People Morris Dance and folks even jump off the Madgalen Bridge into the Cherwell river. Quite the celebration!
I did not spend Mayday in Oxford this year. Since I know that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat would like to join me for the celebration, I took a pass this year so that I could go next year with her instead. Thus, I spent my long holiday weekend -- as Mayday is an official holiday in the UK, as it is in most of the world -- in London.
Friday evening, after the Oxford Critical Mass cycle ride -- which I attended, somewhat in terror, but without incident -- I hopped the Oxford Espress bus to London. I made my way to Limehouse, arriving at D&J's flat just before 10pm. The flat, while admittedly yuppified, is amazing! It overlooks the Limehouse basin, with the porch almost directly over the water itself. The basin connects to both the Thames and to the intricate array of British canals. (For the record, D. ispomoloco's brother) We hung out and chatted for a few hours, which was fun, and then I crashed for the night in his guestroom.
Saturday morning, I left the flat and made my way to Russel Square. For the Mayday weekend, the Square Social Centre, was hosting an Anarchism '06 conference. The social centre itself was quite impressive; it is housed in a six (seven?) story building that has been a squat since February. The basement and ground floor of the squat, which is in fantastic condition, comprise the social centre, with the upper floors serving as housing for residents. The conference itself was good, with a series of talks by "experienced" Anarchists on the first day, followed by a couple of sessions from the London IWW and a film screening. The film, Land & Freedom, was very heavily (and obviously) based on George Orwell's book Homage to Catalonia. A few bits were added and a few were changed, possibly over copyright issues, but the similarity was clear. This was fine, as I really love that book. Saturday night, there were a series of musicians performing. I went to watch for a bit, then sacked out for the night in the main hall, still listening to the music beneath me. Eventually, four other Anarchists came in to crash, waking me up as they did so, and we had ourselves a little slumber party, chatting and being silly for a bit before passing out for the night. I need to get myself a sleeping bag here, as the cold was the only thing that really made it difficult to get good rest that night.
Sunday morning, I went for breakfast with one of the Anarchist who I had been chatting with the day before. The official program for the day was a series of discussion groups. However, the usual [unfortunate] rules regarding Anarchists and punctuality applied. Everything got bumped back an hour, so I went to hang out by the fountain in Russel Square to enjoy the Spring weather and to chat with a comrade before things began. Once they got into gear, the discussions were interesting. I attended groups on Social Centres -- and, unexpectedly, met a couple of people from Oxford who run a similar type of space -- and on gentrification in Hackney, and on the Mayday march. Eventually, though, I got saturated with discussion groups and went out front to just talk with various people. I made some good contacts this way, getting info for Anarchists in London and in other parts of England.
After things wound down on Sunday evening, I met D. by the Bond tube station and we got some dinner at a Turkish restaurant in St. Christopher's Place. Then back to Limehouse, where we took a stroll around the basin before retiring to the flat. We ended up chatting until about 3:30am...
Monday morning, I woke up at 10:30 and made my way to Clerkenwell Green, to meet up with the Mayday march. On the way, I passed the Mayday Critical Mass riders, with their police "escort." Once at the Green, I found the Autonomous Bloc rather easily amongst the trade unions and the various communist parties represented there. After rallying for an hour or so, the march began. By that time, I estimate -- roughly -- that there were several hundred, maybe even a thousand, people in the Autonomous Bloc... with thousands more in the overall march. Interestingly, there was a solid line of police on either end of the Autonomous Bloc, while every other group in the march was free of police presence. Hmmmm... During the march, I stood near the front and helped carrier the banner for the bloc. We marched down to Trafalgar Square without incident. However, once we got to the Square, there was a confrontation with the police that ultimately ended without arrest... but with them nicking our bicycle-mounted sound system. Bah, but I do hate cops. Nonetheless, we rallied at the Square for a bit and, with our megaphone, still had an open shout out session. After two of the "experienced" Anarchists from Saturday spoke, the encouraged other people to take the megaphone. No one did, at first, so I stepped up to the plate and spoke for a few minutes. When the speaking was done, we went to march again, this time around the Square, but we were penned in by police who only let us go in small numbers. By the time we were out of the pen, the festivities were beginning to die down anyway, so we dispersed. I stayed in the Square for a bit, just enjoying the afternoon. Somebody brought a sound system in on a different cycle and folks started dancing in the Square... until the police made him leave with his music. Yes, indeed, I do hate cops.
With everything well and truly over, I got back together with D., meeting him at the base of Big Ben. We crossed the Westminster Bridge and took a stroll along the Thames, down the Queen's Walk which later became the Silver Jubilee Walk. We passed the London Eye and other nifty sights before stopping at a crepery to get a very late lunch. Then we walked on, up to the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre, crossed over the Millennium Bridge (stopping midway to admire the Tower Bridge in the distance), and circled St. Paul's Cathedral. Finally, we reached the tube station and parted ways, with D. heading back to his flat in Limehouse and I heading to the Marble Arch to catch the espress bus back to Oxford.
Overall, a very good Mayday! Nice to see a big turnout, in the thousands, to celebrate this holiday, which is one of the most important to me. Looking forward to seeing what the Oxford Mayday is like next year...
I did not spend Mayday in Oxford this year. Since I know that
cheshcat would like to join me for the celebration, I took a pass this year so that I could go next year with her instead. Thus, I spent my long holiday weekend -- as Mayday is an official holiday in the UK, as it is in most of the world -- in London. Friday evening, after the Oxford Critical Mass cycle ride -- which I attended, somewhat in terror, but without incident -- I hopped the Oxford Espress bus to London. I made my way to Limehouse, arriving at D&J's flat just before 10pm. The flat, while admittedly yuppified, is amazing! It overlooks the Limehouse basin, with the porch almost directly over the water itself. The basin connects to both the Thames and to the intricate array of British canals. (For the record, D. is
pomoloco's brother) We hung out and chatted for a few hours, which was fun, and then I crashed for the night in his guestroom.Saturday morning, I left the flat and made my way to Russel Square. For the Mayday weekend, the Square Social Centre, was hosting an Anarchism '06 conference. The social centre itself was quite impressive; it is housed in a six (seven?) story building that has been a squat since February. The basement and ground floor of the squat, which is in fantastic condition, comprise the social centre, with the upper floors serving as housing for residents. The conference itself was good, with a series of talks by "experienced" Anarchists on the first day, followed by a couple of sessions from the London IWW and a film screening. The film, Land & Freedom, was very heavily (and obviously) based on George Orwell's book Homage to Catalonia. A few bits were added and a few were changed, possibly over copyright issues, but the similarity was clear. This was fine, as I really love that book. Saturday night, there were a series of musicians performing. I went to watch for a bit, then sacked out for the night in the main hall, still listening to the music beneath me. Eventually, four other Anarchists came in to crash, waking me up as they did so, and we had ourselves a little slumber party, chatting and being silly for a bit before passing out for the night. I need to get myself a sleeping bag here, as the cold was the only thing that really made it difficult to get good rest that night.
Sunday morning, I went for breakfast with one of the Anarchist who I had been chatting with the day before. The official program for the day was a series of discussion groups. However, the usual [unfortunate] rules regarding Anarchists and punctuality applied. Everything got bumped back an hour, so I went to hang out by the fountain in Russel Square to enjoy the Spring weather and to chat with a comrade before things began. Once they got into gear, the discussions were interesting. I attended groups on Social Centres -- and, unexpectedly, met a couple of people from Oxford who run a similar type of space -- and on gentrification in Hackney, and on the Mayday march. Eventually, though, I got saturated with discussion groups and went out front to just talk with various people. I made some good contacts this way, getting info for Anarchists in London and in other parts of England.
After things wound down on Sunday evening, I met D. by the Bond tube station and we got some dinner at a Turkish restaurant in St. Christopher's Place. Then back to Limehouse, where we took a stroll around the basin before retiring to the flat. We ended up chatting until about 3:30am...
Monday morning, I woke up at 10:30 and made my way to Clerkenwell Green, to meet up with the Mayday march. On the way, I passed the Mayday Critical Mass riders, with their police "escort." Once at the Green, I found the Autonomous Bloc rather easily amongst the trade unions and the various communist parties represented there. After rallying for an hour or so, the march began. By that time, I estimate -- roughly -- that there were several hundred, maybe even a thousand, people in the Autonomous Bloc... with thousands more in the overall march. Interestingly, there was a solid line of police on either end of the Autonomous Bloc, while every other group in the march was free of police presence. Hmmmm... During the march, I stood near the front and helped carrier the banner for the bloc. We marched down to Trafalgar Square without incident. However, once we got to the Square, there was a confrontation with the police that ultimately ended without arrest... but with them nicking our bicycle-mounted sound system. Bah, but I do hate cops. Nonetheless, we rallied at the Square for a bit and, with our megaphone, still had an open shout out session. After two of the "experienced" Anarchists from Saturday spoke, the encouraged other people to take the megaphone. No one did, at first, so I stepped up to the plate and spoke for a few minutes. When the speaking was done, we went to march again, this time around the Square, but we were penned in by police who only let us go in small numbers. By the time we were out of the pen, the festivities were beginning to die down anyway, so we dispersed. I stayed in the Square for a bit, just enjoying the afternoon. Somebody brought a sound system in on a different cycle and folks started dancing in the Square... until the police made him leave with his music. Yes, indeed, I do hate cops.
With everything well and truly over, I got back together with D., meeting him at the base of Big Ben. We crossed the Westminster Bridge and took a stroll along the Thames, down the Queen's Walk which later became the Silver Jubilee Walk. We passed the London Eye and other nifty sights before stopping at a crepery to get a very late lunch. Then we walked on, up to the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre, crossed over the Millennium Bridge (stopping midway to admire the Tower Bridge in the distance), and circled St. Paul's Cathedral. Finally, we reached the tube station and parted ways, with D. heading back to his flat in Limehouse and I heading to the Marble Arch to catch the espress bus back to Oxford.
Overall, a very good Mayday! Nice to see a big turnout, in the thousands, to celebrate this holiday, which is one of the most important to me. Looking forward to seeing what the Oxford Mayday is like next year...
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From:
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@!!!!!
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Indeed it was!
I'm glad we found this event for you to attend, that you made some good contacts and that you got to spend some time with D.
Me, too. Though, to be fair, you are the one who found it. I'm still surprised that you were browsing through London Indymedia...
You do realize, beeps, that May Day in Oxford will be very different? I suspect its influences are more Pagan than labour.
Heh. Yes, I do know that... Will be a change of pace...
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I love you. :) Yes, next year we will try to do May Day in Oxford...