18th September, 2010 – Anti-Pope Protests, London
Joseph Ratzinger aka Pope Benedict XVI visited the UK, and with it came inevitable protests featuring a lot of blown-up condoms. The biggest demonstration was in London, organised by “Protest the Pope” – http://www.protest-the-pope.org.uk/
I was actually quite surprised at just how much anti-Pope feelings there were. It was clear that some demonstrators were incredibly passionate about this, with many people around me having their own personal stories and reasons.
A whole range of activists turned up – Women’s rights,abortion, gay rights, child abuse were just some of the issues people were demonstrating about.
I have a lot of images of placards which are worth full-viewing in my opinion. This must be the only protest I have been to where there has been so much variety in terms of banners and placards. Most of them were ‘home-made’ and these are always interesting to read. In fact, I took a whole bunch more but haven’t posted them all.
Condom umbrella. Now there’s a first:
Notice the guy on the left above – Pastafarian.
Some supporters of the Pope – slightly outnumbered in this instance:
This wouldn’t personally be my first-choice hoodie to wear but hey, each to their own:
Richard Dawkins was one of the guest speakers at the rally, which started at Hyde Park and ended at Downing Street.
He was soon surrounded by a crowd of people all keen to speak to him. I’d imagine he would be a very interesting person to have a conversation with.
Notice the guy on the left with the flourescent jacket:
I did indeed Google Hollie Greig – I’m not sure how it’s relevant to the Pope (yes, it’s about child abuse but I don’t think this relates to the Church in any way?) but in any case it’s shocking..
Horribly out of focus:
Turnout was much larger than expected with an estimated 12,000 people marching to Downing Street. Of course, this number is dwarfed by the hundreds of thousands of people who came out to see the Pope, but these demonstrators have definitely made their thoughts heard. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any images of the Pope himself, although I would have quite liked to.
Religion is a funny thing. That is the only opinion on religion I’m going to include in this post before I end up typing an essay, and well, this meant to be a *photo*blog of sorts. Well OK – one more thing – I know a number of people here who would consider themselves to be religious church-going Catholics who didn’t line the streets to see the Pope because they could not be bothered with the crowds. Hm.. I really have to say I find that incredible. If you have that much faith surely you *would* make the effort to see the man who represents your faith, which could be the only chance in your lifetime? Oh, and one more thing – you don’t need religion in order to be a good, moral person – something I think a lot of people tend to forget. That is all.
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On a completely different note, leaving the protest, I came across this:
He was being filmed pogo-ing as part of an advert for KangaROOS.
Very cool and random.
Ganesh Chaturthi Festival, South London – September 11, 2010
September 11th 2010 was a special day in the Hindu calendar, marking the birthday of Ganesh – one of the most revered Hindu gods.
In India and other parts of South Asia this is celebrated on a huge way, and I was lucky enough to experience this a couple of years ago in Mumbai – http://www.tanya-n.com/?p=132
It’s not quite on the same scale here, but in this normally uneventful part of South London, known for its crime rate more than anything else, it’s a nice surprise to see a colourful procession go by. I was caught by surprise as it wasn’t publicised and only realised it was happening when I heard the music outside. A local temple organised it and they paraded a statue of Ganesh around the block.
I didn’t notice her arm when I took this..only after I uploaded it:
Bystanders stood and watched with curiosity while others like the woman on the left above, brought her hands together as a sign of respect and prayer.
Fruit and flowers are offered to Ganesh:
It was getting darker.. good job I was using the 50mm f1.8. Grainy but works without needing flash.
Regarding the above, notice the sign for ‘Beau Dogs’, still with an ‘0181’ number. If you don’t live in the UK, this number was discontinued 10 years ago. FYI – the shop is owned by a lady with around 50 poodles and is never open to the public. To the right is a Crispy Fried Chicken shop – one of only 50 on the high street. Below is one of the 20 barber shops on the same street. Welcome to South London. I’m available for tours.
The procession turned into the temple’s entrance, where the statue of Ganesh will remain for another year:
There was a great atmosphere, and it’s good to see a local event like this, which rarely happens.
Ramadan 2010
On the topic of religion, over the last month Ramadan has taken place – of course the most important month in the Islamic calendar. I took some images one Friday at the East London Mosque.
(Apologies for the watermark – the original images are on another computer.)
So, Happy Eid to those who celebrate it, and Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to those who celebrate it! I don’t have any images relating to it, but Happy Rosh Hashanah to all my Jewish friends. Keeping with the religious theme, next week I bring you the Pope. Or should I say, a tiny dot which will supposedly be the Pope.
On a different note, my site (i.e. what you lovely readers are looking at right now) was named ‘Blog of the Month’ in Better Photography, India’s most popular photography magazine. I don’t have a clue how it ended up in there but thanks to everyone who has mailed me about it. Since it’s only available in India, here is a scan of what was written (courtesy of an Indian photography student called Abhisek Das):
I have to say it really caught me by surprise and meant a lot. It’s also great to know I have such an international audience, but then again, my site stats tells me I have more non-UK viewers than I do UK ones. In fact, most of you are apparently from the US, followed by India, which is no surprise considering the amount of blogs I have on India!
All comments, emails and support are always appreciated, and thank you for looking, as always.
