POWER & RESPONSIBILITY: WHY I AM PROTESTING

I. WHY BRITISH PEOPLE HAVE A GREAT RESPONSIBILITY AT THIS TIME

Our government’s actions towards the people of Afghanistan are cruel, unnecessary, contrary to international law, and even to our own interests. This has adequately been shown elsewhere; here I concern myself with what is to be done.

The people of Afghanistan cannot stop the bombing, because they have no power over our government. We have the power, if we prevail upon our leaders through protest, to make them stop. And with this power goes great responsibility, since no one else can exercise it for us. In short, whether a great multitude will live or die relies not on their own actions, but on ours.

II. WHAT I WILL BE DOING

On Sunday, I will be protesting naked in Manchester city centre. I have chosen this type of protest because whilst it is peaceful and hurts no one, I expect it to be utterly intolerable to the government, and lead to my detention. When released, I will protest naked again, and continue doing so and being detained until our government stops all warlike operations in Afghanistan and withdraws its support of the United States’ operations.

Nakedness symbolises the spirit in which I will conduct my protest: with openness against the government’s intrigue, with defencelessness against its coercive might, and with the casting away of material things against the gluttonous consumption of material things, which has brought the world to this pass.

III. WHAT I HOPE TO ACHIEVE

I do not expect to change government policy single-handedly, nor would I hope to: that would be most undemocratic. Rather I wish to discharge my own share of the responsibility that our privileges have placed upon us. Many people share my anguish at what our government is doing, but as yet feel powerless. To them, I hope to show that protest can be effective.

This type of protest hits the government where it feels it most: in the pocket. Not because the protestors are particularly expensive to process through the courts and to detain, but because the individuals are economic units whose production is lost. Since plenty of money is the sinews of war, this is a particularly effective form of protest. From this point of view it is easy to see that if many people refuse to co-operate, the government will very quickly lend an ear. And if only a few protest and are detained, they are consoled by consciences clear of any co-operation with a cruel and profligate government.

IV. WHAT EVERY ONE CAN DO

Not every one, nor even the vast majority, need act as I do. But all ought to search their consciences and ask if they are doing as much as they could. Those who spearhead protest will need supporters of every kind, and this opens up opportunities for many to help. All must understand that since they have power, they have a responsibility that they evade at their moral peril. If the people of Britain could not stop the killing in Afghanistan it would be pointless to try; since we can, we urgently must.

JAMES THORNE, 22nd October 2001