From art to the streets!

Gloriously, as we left the Kapoor exhibition, the Troops Out of Afghanistan demonstration was passing - probably 5,000-10,000. I felt a wave of nostalgia, having whistled and chanted with the best of them in my time. I love the slogans, the odd posters, the witty banners and even the myriad of splinter groups selling poorly-written posters explaining why their groupuscule is the true inheritor of the legacy of Marx/Lenin/Trotsky/Mao/add your own guru here - despite my utter despair that the left can't get together to actually do anything significant. Instead, we'd all rather pretend to be revolutionaries and attack any other sect rather than the actual enemy. Demonstrations like this are particularly useless: nobody's listening, no minds will be changed, but the marchers feel better about themselves.

The MLKP (Marxist-Leninist Communist Party) are banned as terrorists in Turkey - which doesn't bother me. The fact that they are ardent supporters of Enver Hoxha's evil, paranoid brand of communism really does. Don't confuse them with the CPGB-ML, the British sect which considers the CPGB and the CPB to be not nearly Stalinist enough…

The demo was a classic - despite it being about Afghanistan, every other cause was represented. Every Communist Party and Trotskyist group (none of which would ever dream of holding a free debate or standing for election) was there (hell, every member was there), except for the ones no doubt boycotting it for doctrinal reasons. Photos are here, but I'll put my favourites up.

Nuanced. Sophisticated.

That'll show 'em. Isn't condemnation a little… oppressive?

Well if King's Lynn and satellite villages oppose the war, then it'll have to stop!