Striking changes to protesting

Having been a junior (very junior) newspaper reporter back in the early 80s when the country’s miners were making their voices heard on the subject of pit closures, I’ve been very interested to follow the developments in the nationwide protests and strikes against the use of foreign workers, particularly in the power industry over the past few days.

In those dark days of ‘Coal not Dole’ the protest movement was haphazard in its organisation and fragmented in its focus. This was, of course, all down to communications. In my North Nottinghamshire newsroom my ‘phone was hot with tip-offs on the latest confrontation – in motorway services, pit gates or power station car parks. Most of these tips proved fruitless - maybe because the plans were being hatched in smokey Miners Welfares in South Yorkshire by a few dozen union activists, who then relied on Chinese whispers to inform the masses.

What a different story it is today as protest organisers head for the internet to mobilise forces and construct a campaign that does make a mark and turn up the volume on the key issues.

All much more effective, but probably a little less challenging for today’s young hacks covering the story.

Jez