Rain Stopped Play - Reclaim The Streets By Rich Mills

Reclaim The Streets is usually more than an anti-car culture protest. It's quite often a bloody good party, keeping it fluffy as the organisers of such things would like to put it. Well on Saturday 26th June there was an attempt to revive the street-party protest in this city. In fact in this country! There hasn't been an RTS in Hull for about 3 years, and not one in this country this year at all. So the idea of one happening in Hull excited me a lot, and I just had to go along. I've attended most of the RTS's there has been in Hull over the years, taking my children along to a day of fun and frolics.

So off I trotted with my youngest daughter Eve, on what was an over-cast but still quite warm day. Pearson Park was the meeting place, at 12:00pm. As we arrived in the park, the heavens opened. They say It never rains on an RTS. I suppose there always has to be a first time. A small band of merry protesters hid from the rain under a tree, we joined the huddle masses and wondered what the hell we were going to do. There was a suggestion that we picked off the S from the front of the banner, and the TS from the back, so we could Reclaim The Tree.

You see despite the down-pour everyone was still in high spirits. Obvious that the protest was not going to happen that day, we stood around and chatted. I managed to pull one of the organisers from the group calling themselves the Disorganised Collective to one side and ask for an interview. RM: This is a bit crap! It never rains on an RTS as the saying goes, what happened?

DC: I know, bloody typical isn't it? English weather is one of the things you can't account for. It's such a shame, so many people put a lot of effort into organising today, it would have probably been one of the best RTS's this city has seen. Plus there are no fucking police here, we could have really gone for it too! One of the lads reckons that the police have employed a shaman to cast a rain spell over the day, as it would have been cheaper than getting dozens of coppers to turn out on over-time.

RM: Why revive the RTS in Hull? Do people even know what an RTS is anymore?

DC: It was a bit of flash of inspiration really. One of the organisers approached us and suggested that we have a Reclaim The Streets. There hadn't been one in Hull for about 3 years now, and there hadn't been one in the UK this year at all. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. Which it still is, and still will be! The rain isn't gonna stop us; we'll just re-schedule it for later in the summer, when we can hopefully guarantee good weather.

Unfortunately I think a lot of people don't know what an RTS is. As we have been publicising it over the past few weeks, there has been mixed reactions. There are those who go, Fucking nice one mate, I love Reclaim The Streets, I was on the last one! Then there are those who go, What's that then? You explain it to them, and they seem to get it, just simply by the idea of having a street party.

RM: What about the apathy and small minded provincial nature of Hull, doesn't that make it difficult to organise something like this in here? Wouldn't it be better to organise one in a more vibrant and socially aware place, like Leeds, Bristol or even down in London?

DC: A lot of us are based in Hull at the moment, so that is why we decided to do it here. Plus the police in Hull are not as heavy handed as in many other cities. So to have a fluffy street party protest works well in Hull, especially when we want to encourage people to bring their kids along. The last thing we want is confrontation. RTS's in other places can turn out to be quite different beasts. Having one in Hull means we can pretty much know how it is going to go. That it'll be a safe environment for everyone concerned.

There is an issue with apathy though. Unfortunately I think the people of Hull are becoming more small minded by the day. But then again, to be fair to Hull, I think that that sort of attitude is growing throughout this country. It seems that the State is winning, people just don't seem to care anymore. No-one will stand up and be counted.

They'll rant at their TV, but do fuck all about it. They're all too scared! Or simply apathetic as you say. You see that is what an RTS is fighting against. The idea that all most people do is stay in the safety of their little boxes. We go to work in a little tin box on four wheels, we sit in compartmentalised working environments. Then at the end of a overly long working day go back home in the little tin box, to sit in our self imposed prison cells, watching another box flash at us from the corner of the room.

It's so sad, and makes me want to grab people and shake them. I can't understand myself how people don't get angry anymore. We are a nation of slaves! It's pathetic, and very sad to see. RM: Some people have turned out today, despite the rain, doesn't that give you hope?

DC: Yeah sure! I'm really grateful to those who have made the effort. Especially from the likes of you lot from thisisUll. I can see quite a few thisisUll.com T-shirts floating around here. I've read the stuff on thisisUll, and the people who write for it seem on the whole to have the right idea. I'd say we've had about 30-40 or so people turn up today, which is great considering the weather and all. Those that didn't even bother to show, who should know better, well they can kiss-my-arse. I can't stand those who talk-the-talk, but don't do anything.

The ignorant people of the world know no better. They are happy in their little bubbles! It's those who sit around whinging about the state of the world, and will come along to something like this, but never do anything themselves. Those are the ones I despise. They ride off the efforts of others. Thinking they are so fucking cool, 'cause they've attended a protest once. Fair weather protesters make me sick. RM: To be fair, they are the people who make up the majority of protests surely? We can't all be organisers can we, too many cooks and all that?

DC: Sure, you're right. It is only the strong minded and dedicated who continue the fight. We can't all be organisers; we need the sheep, the followers. Just that sometimes I wish that others would just get off their arses and do something. Anything! Instead of leaving it up the few, like us.

Also it seems sometimes that the few are getting smaller by the day. Especially in this city. Activists get older, and become more jaded. We need new blood, and I sometimes wonder where that new blood will come from. RM: Well thanks for your time. I hope you manage to reclaim something from this day. I'm sure this won't be an end to it!

DC: No, not at all. As I say, we'll reorganise and do this again later in the summer.

Also we have other ideas in the pipe-line, but obviously I'm not going to go into that now. All I can say is watch this space! Or at least the walls, lamp-post and bus shelters. Never daunted, we'll be back, as they say!

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