ACTION AGAINST THE WAR ON IRAQ
Projection against the Houses of Parliament
Strike Against Iraq
Uk-speaks
www.uk-speaks.net
The Public Opinion
Started this action with my then business partner. It consisted of projecting images against the war on Iraq onto the Houses of Parliament. The action can be seen as something from the wider campaign against that military intervention.
The idea was to make the projection, get media coverage and have a supporting website with a voting system ( a ‘yes’or ‘no’ to the war + comments). The results of the vote would then be delivered to Downing Street.
Bear in mind that this is prior to social networks as we have now. Even a site with a voting system, comments, etc, was a bigger challenge that it is today.
Despite the few resources we did manage to achieve a lot. The logistics alone were a bit challenging, as we had to drive a 4×4 pushing a huge generator on a trailer. In order to make the projection, we had to assemble the large projector itself, which looked almost like a canon.
We practiced this, so we could do it very quickly. So overall, we are talking one 4×4, plus huge generator, plus large projector and several thick cables. All together and connected in a matter of a few minutes. The issue was: could we do this on the Westminster Bridge? We believed so, as others had done it with advertising.
Original location for projection
However, one lesson learnt: we sent a press release to most papers and TV channels, which meant that by the time, we had our rendezvous’ with the press (across the Westminster Bridge), the bridge itself was with several parked police vans. Obvious, the alarm had been given. We suspected papers like the Daily Mail or Telegraph would have done it, and it was naïve of us to send them the press release.
That meant we did the projection from the Milbank end of the Houses of Parliament. We were very quick doing it and within 15m or so, we were out of there without having been stopped by the police.
The impact wasn’t as great as it would have been, were we to stay with the original plan and made the projection from the Bridge to Big Ben. Nevertheless, we got published in some papers and the hits and votes on the site started.
A second issue: the site was hosted by a partner company. We had asked them to host the site only for a few months, which they agreed to. As people started coming to the site the hosting company suddenly unplugged the site. They provided no reason, other than they got a ‘few calls’ regarding it.
A few weeks later, the Daily Mirror did their own projection on the Big Ben, and my then business partner got involved, as they could benefit from our experience. At the time I was abroad, so was unable to be present as it was all very short notice.
The Public Opinion – Strike Against Iraq
Using the advertising medium of large scale projection, UK-speaks projected tonight the URL www.uk-speaks.net onto the Houses of Parliament, which will allow people to comment and vote for or against Mr Blair’s move towards a strike in Iraq.
UK-speaks is an action that is born out of necessity. Britain is about to engage in a war driven by American foreign policy, with little or no consultation on the British electorate.
We feel that is our duty as citizens to make a contribution to this debate due to the seriousness of the issue. War on Iraq does not have the support of the international community and we feel that the medium and long-term costs of this belligerent action are very dangerous for the cultural and peaceful coexistence of peoples and nations in this planet. A change of government in Iraq is welcomed for the good of all, but is war on Iraq the way to achieve this ?
in an attempt to answer this, the web site www.uk-speaks.net will allow visitors to enter a name and location and provides a vote box for yes or no. Once a vote is made, the individuals will be able to see what way opinion is swinging. The site is not intended to gather only NO votes, and anyone who wishes to register a YES vote is equally invited to visit. The results will be collected and presented as a petition to Mr Blair at 10 Downing Street London on 6th October 2002.
##### END
– LATEST
Uk-speaks started tonight an online poll regarding the war on Iraq. This is a citizens initiative due to the way foreign policy is being conducted on this matter. We believe the British public has been given little evidence that justifies a full scale assault on Iraq. The polls have shown that the majority of the British electorate is against action (between 60% and 60% and 75%). Yet the government is insisting on a foreign policy very close to the White House line.
– PROJECTION
The projection was initially scheduled to take place at midnight from the middle of Westminster Bridge onto the Houses Of Parliament. At around 23.30 a police van parked in the same spot we intended to use. We are not sure if this was a tip off or otherwise. By 23.50 we decided to go to Milbank and project the four slides onto the west side of the building. By 00.15 the projection was taking place with TV crews from BBC and ITV, plus press photographers covering the event. Before 00.30 we were packing up and leaving. On the way back we passed through Westminster Bridge again. This time there was no police presence and we took the opportunity to quickly project one slide onto Gable End.
You can see the slides at http://www.uk-speaks.net/images.php . Other images to follow soon.
WHAT NEXT ?
Simply put, we are organising an online vote which we will be presenting to
Mr Blair or his representative at 10 Downing Street after the two week
voting period which starts on Sunday 22nd September 2002 at approximately
5:30pm.
We are not deluded enough to think that we can change the policy of our government just by having an online vote, but we do believe that if our government has seen that we want more information, evidence or would prefer
not to have a war, it may just be enough to have Mr Blair think before
striding off under Mr Bush’s wing.
So, if you would care to do two things – we at UK Speaks would be most grateful.
1) Visit www.uk-speaks.net leave your name and location, any comments you would like to leave, then make a vote.
2) Pass on a copy of this mail to your friends and family. Please, if you can, don’t make a forward as it will contain loads of >>> which will make the text unreadable after a short while. Just copy the text and send on to those you think might be interested.
We at UK Speaks thank you for your time in reading this and also any time you spend voting and passing on this e-mail.