Smash Sumthin'

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" (attributed to Albert Einstein)

Heralded as a "great success" by the organisers, Smash EDO, the world of international capitalism and their chums the arms trade seemed to be "business as usual" at start of work after the Mayday jaunt in Brighton.

As can be seen, the police adopted their usual "softly softly" approach in their rather fetching Altern-8 outfits, whilst some of the more "pro-active" protestors protested about the amount of force the rozzers used trying to stop them terrifying children quietly munching on Happy Meals in Maccy-D's. We were told by megaphoned, bicycle guy that MacDonalds invests in EDO/ITT and are thus very bad people which makes it ok to attack them (instead of say KFC or Burger King who have shares in shetland ponies and kittens).

A team of beach anarchists later staged a rooftop protest at the cafe on Palace Pier, presumably because it's owned by "the man" (not the adversary of the Black Panthers, the other man) and showed him they didn't give a Bel Biv Devoe for his bourgeios ways by spraying paint on the totalitarian coffee house and getting arrested. Smash the state indeed, right on bredrin.

Up on Ditchling Road, some shenanigans were had as a pink, de-motorised car (very eco-warrior), presumably to be used as a battering ram was let loose, almost knocking over several revellers as it hurtled down the street before crashing into a wall. A big shouting match between angry, grey-haired man ("you could'ave fuckin' killed a kid, you fuckin' wanker"), and unsurprisingly posh anarchist who seemed at a bit of a loss to explain the ingratitude of the very proles he had come to liberate from the machinations of the evil corporations. With some hint of irony, Sony recording artists Rage Against the Machine soundtracked the sorry misunderstanding. The car was pulled back up the hill before the pacifists again lost control and crashed into a car that was parked round the corner. It is still unconfirmed whether the car was a mechanism of oppression or just a common or garden planet-killer.

As the day went on, the police indulged in formation dancing with a clearly appreciative german porn star

Six vans and a phalanx of police blocked off the offices of RBS on Preston Park, which the protestors mostly ignored so that they could drink beer on the swings. Realising they were now the other side of town to the Evil Merchants of Death, some wondered whether it might be better to continue northward and declare war on Burgess Hill. This was seen as a good idea by everyone that had been there.

I spoke to an older gent in the park who appeared bemused by the festivities and said it reminded him of the old ruckuses between the mods and rockers in years gone by, but lacking sartorial niceties and with less sense of purpose.

As mentioned in the Indymedia comments section -

"A very inspiring day, and a bloody nose to the forces of oppression!"

Indeed. I'll leave you with a picture of some horses in legwarmers