Voices

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The Olympic spirit?

Cyclists banned from Newham for the duration of the Games.

By Ellie Mae O'Hagan Published 29 July 2012 10:26

Police corral cyclists from Critical Mass on 27 July (Photograph: Getty Images)

For your average left-winger (like me), grandiose patriotic events are usually characterised by post-imperial malaise, myth-peddling and latent racism – until Friday night. Danny Boyle’s Olympic opening ceremony revealed a country forged in the actions of ordinary people; actions which to defined a new British spirit of compassion, diversity, irreverence, and audacity. As Anthony Painter so beautifully put it, "The orthodox view of the people as merely extras in a story of regal supremacy and a march to global domination now seems as peculiar as a gurn on the face of Mr Bean." In three hours, Boyle seemed to reclaim history for we, the people, from the royals and politicians who would otherwise own it.

But as I watched the Olympic flag being paraded around the stadium, something was happening outside. The police were arresting over 100 members of the cycling group, Critical Mass; a group which has been cycling on London’s streets for the last 18 years with no aim but to celebrate the joy of bikes. In the words of one cyclist who was arrested, "I can honestly say I had absolutely zero intention of disrupting the Olympics. I don’t think anyone did. It was about enjoying cycling – not hating the Olympics."

In 2008, the House of Lords ruled that Critical Mass was acting completely lawfully and that the Metropolitan Police were not allowed to obstruct the bike rides. And yet, at around midnight on Friday the police ushered cyclists into a cul-de-sac in East London, kettled them, and began forcing some off their bikes. Over 100 cyclists were then arrested under Section 12 of the Public Order Act. They were bundled on coaches, where they remained for over 7 hours without access to food, water or toilets. One of the arrestees was a 13-year-old boy.

Arrestees were later released with stringent bail conditions, including a ban from cycling in an entire London borough, Newham. Very little is written about how bail conditions are often used to essentially supress protest, but as Alastair, a cyclist present at the ride, summarised, "This is about taking a big chunk of potential activists out of the picture for the duration of the Olympics and using police bail to do it."

If the cyclists were simply doing what they have always done on Friday night, then so were the police. As the cyclists were being detained, the Olympics opening ceremony was lauding Suffragettes and trade unionists that were also oppressed and demonised for threatening the pageantry and power of the day. It was ever thus: "generations of people must fight the same battles over and over again," as Tony Benn once said – even if those people are simply cyclists deciding that a militarised sporting event will not change them.

Some of those who took part in the Critical Mass bike ride point out the juxtaposition of the ceremony’s themes with the oppression of civil liberties going on outside. But I don’t see the two as being in conflict. When Danny Boyle chose Shakespeare’s words "Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises," he was recognising Britain as a troubled and frenetic country. He was acknowledging that Britain has often been a country of struggle, and of noise. Boyle reminded us that Britain’s greatest moments have been those where people stand up to the powerful. By refusing to abandon their tradition at the behest of the authorities, Critical Mass, in its own small way, was continuing the legacy of those the ceremony was celebrating.

The athletes will return home in a few weeks, and we must think about the sort of country that will be left behind. The sanctity of the Olympics has provided the police with powers that are likely to remain long after the corporate bunting has been taken down. I choose not to see Danny Boyle’s ceremony as bread and circuses; I choose to see it as a call to arms. We must defend our freedom of expression, as those who came before us did. We must defend it because it is the only weapon we have to ensure that we, the people, can write our own history.

More from Ellie Mae O'Hagan

23 comments

Tue, 2012-07-31 11:45 — paurinapaurina (not verified)

The NHS section of the ceremony wasn't a celebration of the NHS as 'best in the world'. Think about it - the nurses were dressed in the style of the 50s-60s or so, and the dramatisation saw a Voldemort-type figure moving in to destroy it. This was a warning of what's happening to the NHS thanks to government policies of the last decade or so.

Tue, 2012-07-31 14:56 — Pavlova

The reason the NHS is in dire straights is because it is straining at the seams to deal with the huge increase in population with high medical needs: ie. unfunded immigrants with new or previously eradicated illnesses who all require testing and closer pre and post-natal monitoring and treatment in certain cases (e.g. much higher birth rate, HIV, TB, Whooping cough, Malaria, Polio, Sickle Cell anemia, vitamin D deficiencies, serious genetic illnesses caused by cousin marriages, higher rates of child abuse/neglect) as well as a significant number of health tourists. Many requiring state-funded translation services too. My friend recently had a baby which was automatically tested for Diabetes and TB because she is Asian, multiply that by several million and you're talking alot of money.

Sounds like a bigoted political point I know, but it's a point of fact.

We fund very expensive training for doctors and nurses, many of whom quickly move abroad for better prospects in the US or Australia. And we backfill with people from other countries, mostly countries with inferior training such as Africa, the Philippines and E.Europe. Which means we are paying a premium for non-premium staff, and developing economies are losing their healthcare workers.

So it is the Lefties who are destroying the NHS.

Tue, 2012-07-31 07:19 — Matt Wardman (not verified)

>In 2008, the House of Lords ruled that Critical Mass was acting completely lawfully and that the Metropolitan Police were not allowed to obstruct the bike rides. And yet, at around midnight on Friday the police ushered cyclists into a cul-de-sac in East London, kettled them, and began forcing some off their bikes.

Perhaps that's because they were acting completely differently to how they were in 2008.

It was an organised demo, deliberately breaking the arrangements for organised demos, with a dishonest political narrative.

It's just a reprise of all the other demos deliberately trying to disrupt from the last couple of years.

When you do that you will get arrested - what is the problem?

Mon, 2012-08-20 13:10 — rayne passmore (not verified)

It wasn't organised. It was a regular meeting of the monthly london Critical Mass cycle ride.

Tue, 2012-07-31 14:51 — dave_t (not verified)

The problem is that people shouldn't be arrested for participating in a demonstration, "disruptive" or not.

Mon, 2012-07-30 13:41 — Some geezer (not verified)

Nicely put. Just make that 6hrs on a bus, 6hrs on a cold concrete floor of a police garage, 5 hrs on a bench inside the station before bail

Mon, 2012-07-30 08:46 — Pavlova

"In three hours, Boyle seemed to reclaim history for we, the people, from the royals and politicians who would otherwise own it."

I hate to break it to you, Ellie, but you and the Jarrow marchers ain't no "we".

Ask the descendants of the northern steel and mill workers how they feel about Lefties if you aren't sure. And try not to sneer while you're doing it.

Mon, 2012-07-30 13:37 — Some geezer (not verified)

You're right, he wasn't speaking for you. Because if 90% of this country weren't docile workforce sheep jumping trough bankar's hoops, there would be no need for the 'Jarrow marchers'.

Just keep shopping mate, it's all gonna be fine.

And just so we're clear, I'm just a working class stiff trying to make a living in my 9-5 which I love doing. Not eveyone concerned about this country and the world is a commie hippie benefit scrounger.

Mon, 2012-07-30 12:27 — EM O'Hagan (not verified)

Actually I just spent a weekend with northern steel and mill workers, and very lovely they were too.

I didn't ask them about lefties, but I'm sure if I'd have asked them about the Olympics ceremony they might have pointed out that it didn't begin and end with the Jarrow Marchers.

Mon, 2012-07-30 16:31 — Pavlova

You should ask them what they think of Lefties and all they hold dear.

Just to shatter Ellie's illusions/delusions, the answer will not be "We band of happy brothers, I'm so grateful for their superior education and rent-a-gob careers so that they can speak for us all." Instead it would be some variation of: "Elitist, self-satisfied, public-school w*nkers who've never worked a day in their life, decimating our communities, culture, prospects and worker rights with immigration, and selling our sisters to traffickers in the name of multiculturalism, they can shove their Olympic propaganda up their ars*s. "

Mon, 2012-07-30 08:48 — Pavlova

"grandiose patriotic events are usually characterised by post-imperial malaise, myth-peddling and latent racism"

And Friday night wasn't?
So the (extended) celebration of a health service as world class when it is only 12th in an international league table isn't myth making?
Falling to pop music, partying, commercial punk, TV and texting to represent our modern era and our future to the world wasn't post-imperial malaise?
The fact that 100% of the British flag bearers (here and in the handover ceremony) representing the nation's contribution to the Olympic spirit, and 80% of the actors representing the generic Briton were drawn from 3% of the population who have arrived in the last couple of decades was not latent racism, post-imperial malaise or myth making?

Interesting what you don't see when you have an orthodox view of history.

Mon, 2012-07-30 08:28 — Pavlova

"The orthodox view of the people as merely extras in a story of regal supremacy and a march to global domination"

When has that been anyone's view, orthodox or otherwise? Maybe just your own view?

Sun, 2012-07-29 17:31 — New statesmangerry oates (not verified)

Bow Street Runners in Olympic Discipline.Two wheels bad in Newham.Fine Kettle of Fish.Uniformed competitors win significant victory over common sense and common decency.Shades of Essex,nine months ago, when an invisible army of anarchists were vanquished before they had showede up for the war !

Sun, 2012-07-29 17:30 — New statesmangerry oates (not verified)

Sun, 2012-07-29 16:09 — willoyen

it seems that the police and army ( are not these special kettling squads mostly ex-soldiers, 'our boys', the heroes returned from the killing fields?) are using the Olympics as a grand rehearsal for future suppression of liberties of all kinds.
Is not Hogan-Howe the great guru of 'Total[-itarian] Policing'?
Good piece of reporting!

Sun, 2012-07-29 15:32 — Liam Godden (not verified)

Cory Tunt and NotAStatesman: very brave to slag people off when you have an alias and a non-verified account. Do either of you have anything useful to add, or just rhetoric and abuse?

Sun, 2012-07-29 14:43 — Cory Tunt (not verified)

Cyclists are a menace. They should be electronically tagged.

Mon, 2012-07-30 08:27 — fellow moron (not verified)

They should be killed at birth!!!!!!!11111111

Sun, 2012-07-29 12:20 — Notastatesman (not verified)

The left isn't a good position to defend freedom of expression, seeing as the left wants to socially engineer people into acting and thinking in the same way!

Mon, 2012-07-30 08:28 — Oh dear oh dear (not verified)

The Right meanwhile, don't want people to think at all.

Mon, 2012-07-30 00:16 — Steve AM (not verified)

I would take a good guess and that you would like people to act and think in the same way as yourself.

Sun, 2012-07-29 10:45 — MrDrem (not verified)

The met police website says that 182 were arrested, with 4 charged. It also contains a number of other inaccuracies that the police should know better than to push.

See *tried to insert link to met site here* for their take on it.

Sun, 2012-07-29 10:45 — MrDrem (not verified)

The met police website says that 182 were arrested, with 4 charged. It also contains a number of other inaccuracies that the police should know better than to push.

See *tried to insert link to met site here* for their take on it.