Late last week I wrote an article praising the relatively peaceful protest organised by a group of British ‘yellow jackets’. I commended the demonstrators for behaving peacefully and wondered if this protest could grow in size and attract more ‘normies’ or non-political types to it, something that this movement needs to do, if it is to grow and be effective as a pro-Brexit campaign tactic?
Since I wrote this article, there have been developments in this protest group that have started to bother me. I am also seeing stuff and reading stuff that makes me really uneasy about whether this is either the right way to protest or even if they are a group that I, as a centre right Brexiteer, could feel comfortable supporting? I believe there is a need for an effective street protest group that promotes the Brexit cause, but I’m not sure that this group is up to the job or is using the most effective tactics. The more I have watched this group, the more I find I have been faced with the question: ‘Is this an effective protest group or is it potentially a damaging embarrassment for the Brexit cause?’
The first cause for concern is the antics of this group, which have the potential to piss off the normal people and hand hostages to fortune to their opponents. Fair enough, to block one bridge may be acceptable on one occasion, but the blocking of successive bridges across the River Thames in London is no way to gain the support of hard-working people in London, many of whom need to cross the river in vehicles, either to get to work or to get home from work. Put yourself in the position of a carpenter or an electrician or an IT technician who may have lost money or got to jobs late because they were delayed by these protestors. Would you in that position think kindly of the protestors who delayed you, even if your position was that you were a Brexit supporter? I think not. I would be absolutely livid if I was a worker and my vehicle had been delayed by this group, especially if I’d lost money because of it. Pissing off one’s potential supporters, especially working class supporters by costing them money, is probably the least effective way imaginable to protest for Brexit.
Also I am concerned about the potential for something to happen that could be exploited by their opposition, the Left and the Remaniacs. The Westminster Bridge Yellow Jacket protestors do not, for example, appear to be sufficiently disciplined or briefed on what to do in emergency situations. There was one incident that could have turned out badly, when the protestors apparently moved less swiftly than they should have done, to let an Ambulance car through the blockade. The group should have had a written policy, stating that what should be done in the event of an emergency vehicle approaching the blockade, is that the blockade should be immediately removed to allow the vehicle through. This policy does not appear to have been in place and there was allegedly some confusion at the time although the emergency vehicle did get through.
Other commentators such as the anti-conspiracy theory blogger Barth’s Notes, have got the impression that when the ambulance car approached the blockade, the path was not cleared quickly enough and if this blogger has thought that, then you can expect others may have thought this as well and they may well exploit it. Although I’m a great believer in non-violent direct action and in peaceful protest, the sort of tactics that have been employed by the UK Yellow Jackets has the potential to create a lot of own goals. I believe that this group may need to amend its tactics so that they do not leave any actual or perceived hostages to fortune that can be exploited by the opposition. In addition I’m very disturbed to read the allegation from the Barth’s Notes site that the demonstrators accosted passers by and asked them if ‘were British or European’? This is not a good look to be quite honest and I’m really not sure that this is the best way to win friends and influence people regarding the Brexit issue.
A better tactic than blocking bridges, and one that I believe may inconvenience less members of the public, may be a flashmob type of arrangement with well disciplined groups of protestors, clearly identified with the Brexit cause and, appearing here and then there at various sites in London. Imagine for example a group appearing at say the South Bank, then Oxford Circus, then Kings Cross Station one after another and you get the picture. This tactic would not only allow the demonstrators to cover more physical ground than the current demo tactic, but being more mobile may also make it less likely that the demos will be broken up by the police. I believe that at present the police are letting this group have their fun but soon the police may be going in hard against this group because of the matter of obstructing the highway without prior permission. The disciplined mobile flashmob style of demo, accompanied by leaflet distributors at demo sites, may help to avoid this potential police crackdown and allow the demonstrators to punch above their weight. This tactic would have the advantage of not putting ordinary people’s noses out of joint which is the big risk of the bridge blocking policy. Another visually impressive idea could be for a large group of Yellow Jackets to do a sit down protest on the pavement outside Parliament. The sight of several hundred people in ‘Brexit’ jackets forming a ring around the Palace of Westminster for example would certainly garner public attention.
The more I learn about this particular protest group and their modus operandi, the more that it looks like it runs the risk that it could end up as an embarrassment and not something that sensible and grounded Brexiteers would want to be associated with. I think this group may need to amend their tactics to make their protests more effective and less likely to have unintended consequences. I also think that as presently constituted, conducted and organised, this group may be unlikely to pick up the large number of normies from outside the political activist zone that an effective pro-Brexit street based protest requires. Whether this British yellow jacket protest ends up as an effective protest or whether it becomes merely an embarrassing political footnote only time will tell, but at the moment they are by their tactics and organisation, running the risk of being the latter rather than the former.
