London Supports Ukraine
And demonstrates it, three times a week
In this journal I mostly focus on what’s happening inside Ukraine, even when (as now) I’m in London. However, there’s something that happens in London that deserves a bit of attention.
Since the full-scale invasion, Support Ukraine/London Euromaidan has been holding demonstrations in central London. In the very first days, these were huge numbers of people effectively milling around in shock in Trafalgar Square and on Whitehall. Before long, things became more organised, and there were daily gatherings in Trafalgar Square. Now, two and a half years later, there are small highly organised demonstrations on Whitehall opposite Downing Street (home of the British prime minister) every Wednesday (6pm-8pm), Friday (6pm-8pm) and Sunday (3pm-5pm). These are the successor to protests against the annexation of Crimea led by the incomparable Natalya Ravlyuk (here expressing her frustration with international inaction two weeks before the full-scale invasion).
I have probably attended a hundred of these rallies at this point. Sometimes it’s dull, there’s no denying that; when week after week the news is that Russia has murdered more people and the West has drip-fed just enough weapons to prevent them from actively advancing, there is only so much even the most eloquent of speakers can say.
Other times it can be a little too exciting, as it was two days ago when the police moved us from our regular spot to Parliament Square, to make way for Far Right thugs whipping up hate for Muslim immigrants but also willing to hurl some shouts of ‘Fuck Ukraine!’ ‘Not one more penny for Ukraine!’ and ‘Why don’t you go to Ukraine?’ our way.
Some people come occasionally, or just once. Others attend two or three times a week, month in, month out. There are regular attendees from all over the world, including Brazil, Japan and Canada. Aya from Japan sometimes opens and closes the rallies by playing the Ukrainian national anthem on her accordion.
Sometimes it feels like change is truly brewing. In October 2021, huge Iranian protests often passed our spot on Whitehall. They would stop for long minutes with us, and swap chants of ‘Freedom for Iran! Freedom for Ukraine!’
But we have dwindled in numbers. A wet Wednesday may now only draw a couple of dozen. And a question that I’m sure pops up in some people’s minds is why do we think it’s worth it, given that the UK government is and has been, in fact, a good ally to Ukraine. The answer isn’t that Whitehall is the home of the government; it’s that Whitehall is tourist paradise.
Nobody sets out to be the crazy shouting in the street, but we crazies have been heard by a whole lot of people. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, a hundred open-top tourist buses may come past, everyone gawping at us and half of them filming. They then post on their socials – and we’ve reached millions upon millions in the course of two and a half years, even if it’s only to remind them that Ukraine exists. It feels worthwhile. Usually.
Though sometimes it does just feel like this:
Please join us one day and help recreate one of the livelier pictures above. When I’m around, I’m happy to meet up beforehand (Wednesdays) with anyone from out of town.
Persistence hunters get the prey in the end... You are incredible