Kieran Lawrence looks at autonomous weapons and the effect they could have on modern warfare
Continuing a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Angela Merkel
Ben Bland examines the fallout from the Iowa caucuses and looks forward to the New Hampshire primaries.
In the first of a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Nicholas Sarkozy
In the corner of Hyde Park furthest from the Serpentine lake lays a slice of antique British democracy. Speaker’s Corner, a bastion of political discussion where anyone, anyone at all, can get up on a soapbox and talk about anything they want and be guaranteed an audience of debate-hungry locals and bemused tourists. Every Sunday all sorts of men and women take up this opportunity in the North East corner of Hyde Park to preach, discuss and joke in front crowds that are never afraid to shout back.
The variety of Speaker’s Corner is the key to what makes it so engrossing, with many of the speakers landing firmly on the side of what would be called alternative if you were being kind. Ancient socialists old enough to remember the first five year plan, Texan cowboys, a speaker defending Israel despite being surrounded by the Edgware Road’s overwhelmingly Islamic population, atheists, absurdists, anti-abortionists, men dressed as Jesus offering free hugs- the denizens of Speaker’s Corner could never be called boring. It’s probably the only place in Britain where you can be condemned to hell by fundamentalist Christians on one side while fundamentalist Muslims do the same on the other.
Perhaps most bizarre of all is a Congolese women who stands silently holding signs promoting the satiric sounding but deadly serious “Blonde Preservation Society” and “White History Month” which also urges the Royals to call off the impending Royal Wedding so that Prince William can marry a natural blonde rather than a filthy brunette.
Speaker’s Corner has a past just as fascinating as its present, one that is tied intimately with the birth of British democracy and the triumph of free speech. Even before a corner of Hyde Park had been turned over to public debate in 1872 the park had been established as a place for democracy at a time when most Londoners did not have the vote. In 1855 150,000 Londoners turned up to protest the Sunday Trading Bill being considered in Parliament which threatened to ban the buying and selling of food on the one day workers had off. The appearance of the police who arrested several of the protestors led to the crowd fighting back to retrieve the prisoners. The Bill was dropped the next day.
Eleven years later the government was debating its Second Reform Bill of the century which would grant a greater proportion of the population the vote. Determined not to be betrayed like they had in 1832 when the original Reform Bill had left the working class disenfranchised, 200,000 supporters of the Reform League marched on Hyde Park. When the police tried to shut the gates to the park the crowd pulled down the railings around it and utterly overwhelmed the police guarding it thus claiming the park for themselves. The following year another march was announced to which the government denied permission. However when the march reached Hyde Park and ministers saw the sheer number of protesters it became apparent the government had learnt from its mistakes as they chose to let them pass. Later that year, partly due to the protests, the government passed the Second Reform Bill granting the working class the vote. From then on there was no doubt that the park was in the hands of the people and it has been the site of protests ever since, host everyone from the suffragettes to the Countryside Alliance and the recent March for the Alternative.
Speaker’s Corner has also played host to some of the world’s great figures. Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey, artist William Morris, George Orwell, Lenin and Karl Marx all spoke there. From Lenin’s diary we can see not much has changed since his day: “We went fairly often to Hyde Park, where speakers harangued the passing crowds on diverse themes. An atheist, standing among a group of curious listeners, proved there was no God.” Well thank Goodness that debate was concluded there. He continues: “Nearby a Salvation Anny officer uttered hysterical shouts in appeal to God Almighty, while a little farther on a shop-assistant was holding forth on the hours of servitude of assistants in the big stores” Okay, it actually sounds like nothing has changed since Lenin’s day. Let’s hope it stays that way.
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