Welcome to Glasgow 2014 - The Empire Strikes Back

Welcome to Glasgow 2014 - The Empire Strikes Back

Monday 21st July was no ordinary day for Glasgow. For a start, we woke up to yet another clear blue sky and sunny day… but there was an intensity in the air that morning like no other. In one final athletic leap towards the 2014 Commonwealth Games, none other than Scotland’s beloved Susan Boyle would bravely charge the Queen’s Baton[1] along Argyle Street and further towards its final resting in impressive The Athletes Village in Glasgow’s newly ‘gentrified’ East End.

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Thousands of us pasty Scots defied the dangers of the blistering 21 degree heat and awaited one of Glasgow’s proudest moments to date. Among the excited athletes, star-struck grannies and rowdy kids (sparing their summer-holiday-Xbox time for this one off opportunity) was an acquaintance of mine – a local resident to Finnieston who would rather not be named amidst fears of being identified as a closet SuBo fan. I will call him Mr D. to spare his identity and his pride.

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Now, Mr. D is an active guy in more ways than one. Rarely without his two wheeled velocipede, he has a penchant for cycling around the city and joining in all the fun that Glasgow has to offer. That is why on Saturday 19th July, two days prior, he braved the summer rainstorm to march peacefully from Buchanan Street to the Riverside with (at least) a thousand others. Why? To show solidarity with the people of Gaza, Palestine during these difficult, war-torn times.

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Demonstrators on Buchanan Street on Saturday 19th July.

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Still buzzing from the camaraderie and unity from the weekend’s demonstration, Mr. D awoke on Monday morning full of anticipation for the spectacle ahead- a running manifestation of the Commonwealth’s multinational, multicultural and all-welcoming ethos. Let’s celebrate!

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Mr. D walked down to Argyle Street, waiting patiently for SuBo’s grand entrance, proudly donning his newly acquired ‘Free Palestine’ tshirt. What better an opportunity to celebrate the vastness of this world and all its cultures. What better a time to overlook the terrors of imperialism and genocide and come together in unity than the onset of the all-singing, all dancing Commonwealth Games?

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Mr. D took up his spot at the corner of Argyle and Kelvinhaugh streets, and stood shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the eager fans. He was barely there for a minute when he was approached by not one, nor two but three friendly faces. And they were all wearing Commonwealth 2014 track suits! But before Mr. D had the chance to share his moment of excitement with his new friends, one of them spoke:

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“You’d better not be planning on doing anything stupid.”

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An odd thing to say at a moment like this. Mr. D asked them what they talking about.

“We’ve got an eye on you. Don’t do or even intend on doing anything stupid or we won’t hesitate to arrest you immediately. Don’t move.”

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Why would three Games volunteers wearing Commonwealth 2014 tracksuits be saying such a thing? Are they not meant to be celebrating the world’s cultures with us? Since when did volunteers have the ability to arrest residents of Glasgow for standing on the street?

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“We are undercover police. Don’t move.”

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This Monday morning was getting less and less ordinary for Mr. D. First the sun, then SuBo and now this? He was trying really hard to celebrate but this had put him off. So much so that he decided to ask why - why was he being threatened with arrest?

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.He asked the cop/volunteer hybrids: “On what grounds are you threatening me with arrest?”

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“Don’t move an inch,” they repeated.
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“Why have you approached me?” replied Mr. D.
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“You know why,” was the ominous response.
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This conversation rallied back and forth for an uncomfortable length of time, but unlike the impending sporting events there was no clear winner here. The cops never made their arrest and Mr. D never found out why they approached him. When asked for their Badge Numbers, the three cop/volunteers spun on their heels and joined the oncoming escort for her royal highness, SuBo, who by now had passed by and was intrepidly relaying the baton along Argyle Street. They clearly had more important business to attend to.

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Mr. D remained still and watched the procession, but now with a resounding feeling of dismay. He was supposed to be celebrating, not playing musical statues with the cops. And why him? Why has he been told to stay still among the thousands of exited fans? “You know why”: their only ‘direct’ response lingered in his ears. With no other clues on offer, Mr. D was left to his own devices to work this one out.
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Was it something he said? Impossible, he was silent.
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Was he carrying or holding anything threatening? No, his hands were empty.
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Was it something he was wearing? His shorts, his shoes… his brand new ‘Free Palestine’ t-shirt? Surely not, we live in a modern, democratic society that boasts freedom of speech! Could a single green t-shirt in the midst of SuBo’s home support be the reason for all of this?

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Left with no other explanation, Mr. D realised that this could actually be the most likely cause of all this. But this poses another question… Why? Why should wearing a t-shirt stating that Palestine ought to be a free nation cause so much aggravation, particularly at a supposedly happy event? Why should a t-shirt bearing a message of compassion, solidarity and peace be so forecefully rejected during one of the biggest celebrations of culture that Glasgow has ever seen? What if the t-shirt had read “Free Tibet”?

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It would appear that assumptions and fear are taking over from reason here, and that those who believe in the sanctity of human rights are being punished for sharing a message of peace. In Glasgow, we have been assured that the heightened Police and security presence is for our own safety from unpredictable (and thus far, unrealised) foreign threats. ‘Project Servator’ is part of a £90million[2] security operation involving “new-style policing tactics designed to deter, detect and disrupt criminal and terrorist activity ahead of the Commonwealth Games” and “highly visible yet unpredictable deployments of specially trained officers around the clock”.

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This all sounds well and good… but try as we must, Mr. D and I are yet to find any way in which his activities on Monday 21^st July were in any way “criminal” or “terrorist”. Even harder to explain is the potential that Mr. D’s ‘Free Palestine’ t-shirt could have been the catalyst for Project Servator’s iron fist.

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In a time where the average person is growing increasingly distrustful of the powers that be (essentially the governments, media empires and corporations) the decision from Police Scotland to approach members of the public in this manner is odd, to say the least. Was this an attempt at fear-mongering and encouraging suspicion? Acts like these only push society and the powers-that-be further apart, increasing feelings of animosity. Or could it have been aimed at surrounding Mr. D as the procession passed by, hiding his t-shirt and its message. Either way, we live in an apparently democratic society that supports universal freedom of speech: it is sad to think that this right can be suppressed for no concrete reason, even when SuBo is in town.