It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

20 years ago today, on March 31st 1990, I was part of this huge crowd of hundreds of thousands people protesting against Maggie Thatchers Poll Tax. This became known as the ‘Battle of Trafalgar Square’, after police attacks on the protest provoked the largest act of civil unrest in London for a century. This great protest was the culmination of a country wide uprising, where in every town and city in the land, angry crowds of thousands of people marched on their Town Halls. Everywhere, people ripped up and burned their poll tax forms, and millions refused to pay this unjust and anti-working class tax, defying the law in one of the largest acts of mass civil disobedience in that century. All this lead to a crisis in the government, and Thatcher's hated regime fell within months, taking her hated poll tax with it.

See a four part documentary on the battle of Trafalgar Square here.

Celebration of this anniversary - in Trafalgar Sq today - and online on the Barrykade blog!

To mark this anniversary, Adrian Johnson, Birmingham’s Poet Laureate, will be in Trafalfar Square, London, where he will perform live performance of his new poem ‘Still no Poll Tax here’ – at 11.30am at the foot of Nelson’s column.

Adrian says that the poem was written as a tribute to the protesters who brought about ithe abolition of the Poll Tax. He added: “Twenty years ago, the wall fell in Berlin, Chinese students stood up in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square, Mandela walked free and the Stone Roses rocked the dance floors in the UK. But it’s easy to forget that history was also being made closer to home … I was hugely inspired by the action taken by normal, everyday people across the UK to resist the Poll Tax which encouraged others to do the same”.

Still, no poll tax, eh?
by Adrian Johnson – Birmingham poet laureate, 2010

Watt Tyler lost his head for it

a prime minister lost her job for it

thousands went to court against it

Trafalgar Square heaved with life and love and protest to stop it

civil courts got right shirty, filled with anger, ideas and spirit

for what’s right and fair and will power – to just not pay it

bailiff’s got over time, short shrift and rarely could collect it

MP’s sniffed the air and mumbled – far too late – ‘Now we’ve done it.”

Leaflets, banners and street protest said what they could do with it

friendships made and courage raised, together we could fix it,

stuff it, beat it, sod it

that flagship idea that spawned a mutinous flotilla

got scuttled by anger and laughter – stood together

mother, son and daughter

they knew what was right, wanted something better

Twenty years later, you’d hardly believe it

those passionate millions that stood against it

wouldn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t’ave’ad paid it

the tax that came in just one size for the duke in his mansion

and dustman in his terrace

that shook us into action and life – and though overlooked by history

we can remember…

now and then, our story

remember ,the laughter, friendship and life

standing up for something better

and still, no poll tax, here.

c. Adrian Johnson

http://barrykade.wordpress.com