Published: 29th November, 2019
Raise the Rafters: THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!
Day 5 on the UCU Leicester picket line and what a day it was. The official theme of the day was the Great Picket Bake Off, but unofficially, today was about singing, dancing, chanting and protest.
As for the formal theme, there were delicious brownies, on-brand cookies (and nail polish), mince pies, samosas (thanks Rashida!) and more, all of which were delicious. One of today’s prizes went to Alex Patel for her on-picket-line pancake operation, the other going to Matt for being “Best in Field”.
But today also saw lots of visits to our lines. The Red Leicester Choir came and performed for all of our picket lines, the student GeogSoc came to say hi to us, East Midlands Retired UCU members visited to offer solidarity and Sanaz from Unis Resist Borders spoke to our rally.
Daughters of Beca performed for us again (first time Bennet Basement has ever appeared in a song lyric!) and encouraged us to ask “Can you hear us management?” – turns out they could hear us, but they definitely didn’t want to talk to us as VC Nishan Canagarajah emerged from the building and walked straight past us. At speed.
Most importantly, we were invited to join Leicester Climate Strike, and while we fight for our present, there is great hope for the future. Tell us what democracy looks like? Well, it looks like a group of almighty children and young people marching through Leicester City Centre saying it how it is.
The best way to sum up today is a short compilation of clips of everything that happened – we hope you enjoy it.
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