The Lantern Carnival: was it political?

The lantern carnival exceeded my expectations in almost every way. It was much bigger than almost everyone expected - probably somewhere between 500 and 1000 people was my guesstimate - and the whole thing was a lot more spectacular than I think most people envisaged. The turnout was particularly impressive because of the date change. The weekend before, when it was supposed to have happened, was so windy it had to be cancelled.

My first favourable impression was as soon as I arrived. A lone drummer was knocking out some cool beats next to an almost life size lantern cow. If you'd been expecting candles in jam jars you were in for a surprise. The Samba band added a great soundtrack to this very visual event as did the Trollyd soundsystem at the back of the parade.

The finale in the park at the end was a real surprise, beautifully decorated with a weaving path of lanterns taking the crowd to the spot to gather for the final light show. The only thing that wasn't very well communicated was the free food. I only found out about that today!

When it finished about 9pm it seemed a bit of shame really. It felt like this would have been a great start to a free party rather than as it was the end of the event.

The one thing I would question though are the claims that this was a political or radical event. To me it seemed very apolitical. Apart from the bottom line of the flyer which read "COMMUNITY NEEDS OVER CORPORATE GREED" there was nothing to suggest any kind of politics at all. There were no banners or speeches and no political flyers handed out at all. The event was timed to go with the launch of the Social Forum but there was no mention of the social forum anywhere I could see.

A misconception I've heard is that we were reclaiming space, albeit temporarily. The streets were used for people instead of cars and profit. However the whole thing was organised with the permission of the police and such events are a perfectly legitimate use of the streets anyway. So we weren't reclaiming anything because we have these rights to begin with.

Another claim was that all the work in building the event had a positive effect in bringing together the local community. I'm sure that's true and that's definitely a good thing but again I can't see community building a particularly political or radical thing unless the end has a clearer political focus. Community building is something that goes on all the time in a variety of ways and is just an inevitable part of living in a community.

However these are not in anyway criticisms of the carnival. I thought it was great, a very cool thing to do or be a part of. And of course just because something is not political doesn't mean it is not worthwhile. The Sharrow Lantern Carnival was very worthwhile and I've already heard rumours that it might become an annual event.