Why I Chose Climate Protests Over Glastonbury Festival

“Just sayin’ that today is the last day you can get in the van with us and come along” my friends told me as I helped them load tipi poles onto the roof of their van for Glastonbury. I was tempted, but after a moment’s hesitation, I stepped back and waved them off, happy with my choice.

This isn’t a post about the sacrifices we make for the climate crisis – it didn’t feel like that. I was just interested in my decision. What was it that drew me to make it? Also, what followed was a natural comparison of experiences, as I watched my friends Glastonbury photos flood in over a weekend I spent in London participating in Climate Protests.

So, what did I do? Here I am heading up on my favourite beautiful coast side train route from Devon to London.

The first protest I went to was outside the Barbican on the Friday night. The LGBTQ+ Awards were on and they turned out to be sponsored by Shell, Amazon, HSBC and a few other problem organisations. The reaction from the group Fossil Free London was to hold a protest opposite the entrance to the event which was a kickass party, with a full sound system mounted on a rickshaw, banging tunes and joyful dancing.

Ingeniously, the Pinkwashing awards were also presented from a temporary stage. “Tonight we have our own awards ceremony!” the rainbow suited host announced over the microphone. Of course the sponsors weren’t available to accept their awards for using the queer community for Pinkwashing, so each one was played by a drag queen, who sang a song or did a spot before accepting their award for Worst Polluter or Biggest Hypocrite and so on. It was quite beautiful and delightfully smart.

My part in it was to play a few tunes with jazz punk band Orchestrated Discontent as part of the evening’s music programme and we had a blast. It was a really special evening and quite magical in many ways. The stage show was so well done I would have paid to see it at a theatre and I was glad I went. The protest was reported on in the Guardian the next day and I felt I’d contributed to something important. I also liked the fact that the Guardian dug into the complexity of the issue, commenting on the question of whether marginalised groups such as the LGBTQ+ community can afford to refuse mainstream (and therefore unethical) sponsorship and still put on events large enough to keep visible. This is a good debate to be having and was on my mind at the time.

On Saturday I went to the Don’t Deport Marcus protest which met at Parliament Square and addressed the fact that Marcus Decker has not only been given the 2nd longest sentence ever for climate protest in the UK (2 years 7 months) but the Home Office have now announced that he’s to be deported back to Germany as soon as he gets out.

Many aspects of the story have caught people’s attention. Some are shocked that the authorities in this country are treating a climate protester this way. Others are heartbroken that the Home Office would make this move knowing that Marcus has a long term partner (Holly) and is a stepfather to two children and that with the children’s father in the UK, deporting him would tear the family apart.

Marcus was sentenced for climbing the QEII bridge and dropping a banner that read Just Stop Oil and remained there for 40hrs in a hammock. Some people agree with the action he took but even many of those who don’t like what he did still feel scared by the fact that the UK authorities have given him such a long sentence, and now by this deportation move. This is a first case of its kind in the UK and along with the Public Order Bill becoming more and more oppressive to peaceful protest, the UK is fast becoming a more and more frightening place for our right to protest.

The Don’t Deport Marcus march was colourful peaceful and full of song and drumming. It also saw protesters from several climate/protest groups, marching together, including Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion.

As a stopping point, I was amazed that a someone with a sound system turned up, and Marcus was able to phone-in from prison, his voice resonating through the PA, as he sang a song for climate justice, and then gave an inspirational speech, ending by asking us to pair up and speak with one another about our Climate actions and personal responses to the emergency. even from prison, Marcus is an activist through and through, and the true wonders of technology, allowed him to be able to reach us at that moment.

Music and speeches from people present followed, including an enchanting a cappella song by Holly and her mother and sister called Restore Our Earth.

Myself, and a handful of other musicians present were able to accompany Holly (Marcus’s partner) as she sang Anne Feeney’s Have You Been To Jail For Justice, with a Marcus verse written by me and some friends shortly beforehand as we’d marched along:

Oh, don’t deport our Marcus / he’s a friend of the earth. / Let him out and let him stay – / that’s what he’s worth. He sang a song for freedom / off the top of the QEII. / Oh, don’t deport our Marcus/he’s in jail for me and you.

This is the first case of its kind for the climate movement, and for the UK, so this march felt like a moment in history. The was a magic in the air, which I think we have felt as we sang together, and as we marched back the way we came, past Parliament Square, finally to St James’s Park – the back garden of Westminster – to rest and share stories and food.

It’s difficult to describe how I felt during these protests because there were so many emotions that I’m not sure what they all were. Perhaps I would say I was feeling the love and the pain of being in and of the world. I felt at home more than I ever had at a festival because not only were we there all because of common values, making music together, listening to what people had to say (on and off the mic), we were also acting on those values by attending the demo in the first place. Plus we felt part of a movement that is making positive change in the world. I was learning – hearing from people the climate crisis is affecting rather than reading about it in books or newspapers. It felt real and immediate – writing a verse about Marcus for a song I had only just heard, whilst marching along, only to sing it 20mins later with his partner and everyone present. It wasn’t “fun” it was more than that – it was magic – the sizzling breathtaking sparkle of conception.

I’m not saying protests are better than festivals, but I found it clarifying that given a direct choice between one and the other, between Glastonbury and a weekend of Climate Protest, I chose to protest. When I’m part of a protest I feel that I’m inside the future, making it, along with a cast of a hundred thousand (in England) and growing, and more and more. It’s exhilarating and grounding simultaneously. It’s reaching beyond and coming home at the same time. It’s conceiving the change and being the change, at lightning speed.

I want to write about this because a lot is written about protest in terms of effectiveness, tactics, progress etc. Yes, all of that is there, but I want to bring you something of how it feels to be on a protest. To be with surrounded by people who are not only willing to stand up for what is right, but are actually doing so in that very moment. There’s a feeling of love which pulses through the crowd like a collective heartbeat. But don’t take my word for it – come and join me some time and find out for yourself.

See you on the streets.

With love and rage

-Kimwei (he/him)