{"id":6602,"date":"2019-05-27T07:35:56","date_gmt":"2019-05-27T07:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=6602"},"modified":"2019-05-27T14:44:39","modified_gmt":"2019-05-27T14:44:39","slug":"on-shaky-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=6602","title":{"rendered":"On shaky ground"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Recording ‘Give Peace a Chance’\/Roy Kerwood\/Creative Commons 2.5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, I got a message that a French journalist wanted\nto interview someone in the UK about their views on \u2018milkshaking\u2019, the bizarre\nnew practice of chucking a perfectly good cold drink at another person. Actually,\nI\u2019m not a fan of milkshakes but I am reliably informed that plenty of people are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I declined the offer, but it did make me think about what I\nmight have said if interviewed. And in my view it is a stupid idea. If you throw\nsomething at someone, there\u2019s a good chance that they will throw something back\nat you. Or worse. I\u2019m no saint, but neither do I subscribe to the \u2018eye for an\neye\u2019 doctrine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are currently living through a period where debate is\nreplaced by diatribe, and consensus is giving way to coercion in various forms.\nIf I don\u2019t agree with what you say, I can shout loudly to try and drown you\nout, which seems to be the preferred option of the likes of Trump and Farage.\nBut if I descend to that level too, then any hope of real communication is\nlost.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, we all want to get our own back at some point or other, so I checked out some acts of protest that did not involve aggression or violence in any form.  And where else to look first than the fight for women\u2019s suffrage? As one of the four mounted heralds of the Suffrage Parade on March 3, 1913, lawyer Inez Milholland Boissevain led a procession of more than 5,000 marchers down Washington D.C.’s Pennsylvania Avenue.  All entirely peaceful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifty years ago, John Lennon and Yoko Ono decided to use\ntheir honeymoon to help champion world peace. On March 25, 1969, five days\nafter their wedding, they got into the bed of room 902 at the Amsterdam Hilton\nand invited the media.  No milkshakes\nwere thrown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staying with the food theme, in India in 1930 Mahatma Gandhi\nled a peaceful protest against Britain\u2019s law dictating that no Indian could\ncollect or sell salt in the country. Followed by dozens, Gandhi walked over 240\nmiles leading protesters to the Arabian Sea to pick up a small handful of salt\nout of the muddy waters of the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here\u2019s one that I had not come across: Estonia sang its way out of the Soviet Union. In 1988, more than 100,000 Estonians gathered for five nights to protest against decades of Soviet rule. This was known as the Singing Revolution. For Estonians, music and singing had for years acted to preserve its culture while this small but independent-minded country held its own during invasion from Germany, Sweden, Denmark and others. In 1991, this country with a population of just 1.5 million regained its independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to stick with the musical theme, and in case you thought the title of this blog was just expressing frustration, I was actually thinking of a 60s pop song by the Swinging Blue Jeans: ‘The Hippy Hippy Shakes’. You can listen to it here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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