Requiem For Protest
A message of hope in dark times
Last weekend, on 4 Oct 2025, I went to Trafalgar Square to observe the latest “Lift The Ban” action organised by campaigning group Defend Our Juries. As the hands on the clock turned to 1pm and the protesters began writing on their placards, the first police units moved in and started to make arrests. One person told me her time of arrest was 13:02 and that she had barely had time to finish writing her sign before they picked her up. I followed the first arrestee I witnessed. She was carried by a group of police officers into one of the designated ‘sterile’ areas. What I witnessed from that viewpoint thereafter felt like a surreal choreographed dance that served to underscore the absurdity of the situation I was witnessing. I was watching the death of the right to protest, and so, along with my long time collaborator Kim Halliday, we have created “REQUIEM FOR PROTEST”. It is a 13 minute piece created from the footage I shot that day as person after person was carried into the sterile area, set to a requiem inspired piece of music composed by Kim. The piece incorporates words from politicians from the past and from today. We did not heed their warnings in 1999, will we heed their warnings today? The piece serves also as an explanation of how it was that I was witnessing hundreds of peaceful people being carried into a holding pen by police officers, each and every one of them under arrest for terrorism.
A few days before this protest Jane Goodall passed away. I discovered Jane Goodall and her work when I was a student and she inspired me like no other person had done before. I have so much admiration for her grit and her values. And just as she had inspired the young me, I found the much older me inspired by her once again last week. This time her inspiration came in death: In a rather bold and unsettling TV format Jane took part in the Famous Last Words interview. The promise is that the interview won’t be aired until after the person’s death thus allowing them to say what they really think without fear of retribution. These are some of her final words:
“Even today, when the planet is dark, there still is hope. Don’t lose hope. If you lose hope, you become apathetic and do nothing, and if you want to save what is still beautiful in this world – if you want to save the planet for the future generations, your grandchildren, their grandchildren – then think about the actions you take each day. Because, multiplied a million, a billion times, even small actions will make for great change.”
Thank you Jane for inspiring me one more time. As I watched the police carting 488 peaceful people off into police vans, every single one of those people gave me hope. Those 488 people, and the thousands who have taken part in the same action before them, give me hope because it shows there are still people out there who haven’t given up, who haven’t chosen apathy in these dark times.
Listen to my podcast with Jonathon Porritt. During this podcast Jonathon talks of his experience of taking part in a “Lift The Ban” action.
The Line We Crossed, our feature documentary charting the unraveling of our protest rights through the experience of climate defenders, continues to screen in cinemas and community centres across the UK. Visit the website to find out where you can watch it, or to petition your local screen.
Thank you, Liz, for all you have done, and continue to do.
I saw a screening of ‘The Line We Crossed’ in Plymouth yesterday. As a slow walker and human billboard I knew much/most of the IB/JSO/DoJ history, yet I still found the footage in the film repeatedly, galling shocking.
The media reporting of the Pal Action sits has been ‘misleading’, to put it mildly, and the work you (and the team behind you) do, to tell/show it like it is, is vital in debunking deliberate political and editorial untruths and cover-ups.
Here’s to collaboration, to sortition (your new word of the day 😉), to people’s assemblies, and to a new dawn.