An elderly lady stands in a blue and white dress. Her whitened hair is tied into a bun, pulling the crow’s feet tight around her eyes. She’s screaming – screaming – at the crowd. “Your eyes are closed! You don’t see the Truth – just you wait until the day of judgement!” Hiding behind her, and studiously avoiding eye contact, is what I can imagine her husband and two children.
And here it’s obvious. Not only does the government control you, but it’s in cahoots with the media. Only through a socialist agenda you can prevail. Oh, and Jesus, Muhammad, and Moses are the only way to heaven. It’s all true, you know. I know because that’s what I learnt last Sunday at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park.
She laments about the decline of the English empire, then talks about criminals. “We sent them to Australia – because we didn’t want them!” The crowd takes offence and starts heckling. Cameras are taking photos, movies. I move along.
Elsewhere among the throng another man is yelling in an African baritone. “Mugabe? Mugabe ezz my hero!” He declares. “Ets the West that’s destroyed Zimbabwe! You! You whites!”
A crowd of about thirty gathers around each speaker, but this is less a marketplace of ideas and more a circus. Tourists are taking shots, and dozens of hecklers shout back at the speakers on their step-ladders. It’s a zoo.
But walking through this carnival of ideologies, there is a distinct buzz about the place. The big three are here in numbers, each holding up their holy books and announcing similarly sounding maxims. I’m impressed. By all accounts they should be fighting each other, right?
Hundreds of people gather here. Perhaps it’s because such level of public debate is now unheard of, there is a wonder to this place. There’s laughter and discussion. One speaker is mocking his heckler. “Shut up! Know your place. I am the speaker and you – you – are the corner!” There is laughter, including the heckler, who is momentarily disarmed by a flash of a smile.
I return to the elderly lady, where she’s now lambasting a Welsh couple. “You Celts always cause trouble! This isn’t your home! Go back home!” They stand their ground. A bewildered woman next to me turns to us. “I don’t get it,” she says, “why do they allow stupid people to talk?”
I know why. It’s offensive, rude, and utterly enjoyable.
Filed under: London Calling! | Tagged: blog idol, London, speakers corner
