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Go along to any sort of protest these days and you'll see some people wearing the Guy Fawkes mask from the V For Vendetta graphic novel (and subsequent film adaptation). Today I went along to the march against the Bedroom Tax in central Edinburgh, and sure enough Guy was in evidence when I turned up at St Andrews Square where the march was gathering. A little disappointing when I turned up, and although the numbers swelled before the march set off, I would have said there were probably only about 1,000-1,200 people there. Some way short of some other recent demonstrations. Chatting with another photographer I speculated that perhaps the disparate 'grass roots' nature of the protest was a factor. There was a real assortment of supporters from the "Guys" and other Occupy protesters, to the Communist Party, Socialist Workers, Greens and the SNP all the way to the "Protest in Harmony" choir and apparently unaffiliated families with young children. There were a few Union banners, but not the massive Union support that other larger rallies have attracted. The whole thing passed off peacefully, with plenty of good humour. Presumably becaus the whole thing had been approved in advance and wasn't ruffling any feathers. Contrast with the Green Brigade protest in Glasgow recently. Different protestors, different police force. Did one feed off the other? The police here seemed relaxed, tolerating a brief 'sit down protest' in front of Wellington's statue that presumably gave the protestors the feeling they were exercising their right to civil disobedience without having much real impact. It also gave the photographers following the arch the chance to get a few different shots before the march carried on towards the Parliament. All very peaceful, and carefully arranged and managed by the police. Which led me to ponder how to make an impact with this sort of protest. I'm guessing this will barely make the news, with no violence or disruption to the city's activities. Is the media only interested in portraying protesters as hooligans? Or compare with the Pedal on Parliament protest last year, when the organisers and police were both surprised by just how many people turned up on the day. The ride from the Meadows down to the Parliament went ahead, but caused more disruption than expected to the Saturday afternoon traffic. So much so that this year it has been moved to a Sunday. When even if the same or more people turn up the impact will be significantly reduced. Could the best strategy be to somehow get an unexpectedly large number to turn up? Obviously, as PoP have discovered, it's a bit of a one-off trick. Using today as an indication it might be reasonable to predict another march of 1,000 to 1,500 people next time. What if 15,000 turned up? Or 50,000? Can't really see it happening. It's the age-old problem of achieving hegemony on the Left. There is an infinite number of ways to 'do things different' but only one to 'keep doing things the same'. Hence conservatism is so much easier to organise. And the 'hierarchies of oppression' are exploited to set poor against poor, men against women, black against white, when the real fault-lines are between the 99% and the 1%. Which brings us back to Occupy, Guy Fawkes and the V For Vendetta march on Westminster...