Simon Lee, photo: @sonskaphotographystudio
Something extraordinary happened at the old lido in St Leonards this July. Billed as a protestival, people gathered to show the local administration and property developers that really, we have had enough!
In a hastily organised, but beautifully executed gathering, the people of St Leonards proclaimed their resolve and opposition to the proposed plan to build luxury homes on the site of the now lost public amenity swimming pool.
The site has been left undeveloped for many years until a recent Hastings Borough Council decision to sell the 250-year lease to a private development group which has its eye on a quick profit. If the development gets the go-ahead, the lease will be sold on to the highest bidder and the developer will walk away with a tidy profit. This is the familiar, tried and tested, playbook of our neo-liberal world. A world far removed from the hopes and aspirations of ordinary citizens of St Leonards and Hastings who, based on the success of the protestival, are sick and tired of the relentless push to undermine the needs of our local communities.
One of the many highlights of the afternoon was the tug-of-war between the mask-wearing ‘fat cats’ and local people, highlighting the faceless unaccountability of the profiteers. Needless to say that we the people won the tug! But this was so much more than a symbolic gesture. The entire event was brought together by people who care deeply about our home town, largely without agendas, without dogma, without party politics. Although the Greens and Independents were there, no particular interest groups dominated, just people coming together with a common cause. And the common cause was accountability – or rather it’s total lack. What happens to this prime piece of real estate on our sea front cannot be decided by developers, land-agents, lobbyists, or their agents. We have to protect the legacy we inherit – and resist those who would discard it for the sake of short-term profits.
Wandering about the site that afternoon was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had in this bizarre town. We had music from Oramorph, an exquisitely laid back, chilled out and spacey set from this lovely acoustic three-piece band. The Punk Choir were a delight with their fabulous covers of punk and not so punk, classics. We had majorettes and dancing, badge making, circus skills workshops (apparently juggling is not one of those skills, like riding a bike, you never forget!). And who will ever forget the chilled beetroot borscht! It turns out that it was exactly what we all needed on this gloriously sunny celebration of our town.
All of this took place alongside the campaigning, and we were engagingly invited to hear how the various pressure groups from around the town had mobilised for this event – community groups, tenants associations, wildlife and nature protection, ecological, environmental. It was a stunning affirmation that people do care and do want change. It’s so easy to focus on all the wrong in the world and forget that in the end we share the same hope – to see the end of suffering, for peace, for security, for safety, for a better world.
There was a point during one of the ‘speaker’s corner’ sessions when I realised: I was sharing the space with my daughter, my grandson, a Buddhist, a trade unionist, a guitarist and a climate activist! And the best thing of all, was that we weren’t there just to protest, we were all unanimously having a fabulous time!
Maybe, our protestival will be the start of a new age of inclusive, open, democratic, grass-roots and engaged organising that will galvanise people around the issues and campaigns that really matter, while also having fun! I can’t wait for the next one!