And so it was on the 02nd of July 2011in the year of our lord anno dominion that a paltry but determined 300 prochoice supporters braved the religious right parading down the main streets of Dublin. And in the opposite corner? A religious right brigade made of 2500 strong zealots, screaming obscenities and armed with bizarrely enough, yellow smiley face signs that wouldn’t look out of place in the Manchester acid scene that Shaun Ryder was associated with.
I am usually apathetic towards the gardai who are more worried about checking car tax and beating protestors but somehow the human wall was actually useful. The pro-lifers had crucifixes and heavy statues and ,ah we had ah, homemade banners and placards never mind being hopelessly outnumbered.
We were fortunate that the gardai were there as angry pro-lifers tried to get around them to get in people’s faces. People who had never being at a pro-choice demo looked shocked and ashen-faced by the in-yer-face and hostile screamers. A little old lady with a cross ran up to me and a friend who said i was once a foetus and she was one too. I said yes but the difference is now she’s an idiot and I’m human. She went off to annoy more indulgent listeners and when she was asked about the serious issue of child abuse in the church she said ‘oh that’s a not a tradition’. The church should always have a say about what goes on. I mean if abortion is legalised in Ireland there’s less chance priests being able to fuck children. God times are getting tough for paedophiles aren’t they?
There were families there with young kids (and the poor suckers looked bored, fed up and thinking they could have stayed at home toturtering the neighbour’s cat instead). One thing that had changed from previous protests was the lack of graphic imagery from the previous march in 2009. Commentators had raised questions having small children walking alongside horror and computer altered propaganda.
One tall sombre man trying to do a Vincent Price gait slowly walked by with a cross trying to ward off the protestors waving his cross. It didn’t work; I would suggest he should bring garlic next year. A lot of women go to these events and good for them they never needed an abortion. The pro-choice were better prepared than previous years but didn’t lack the serious paraphernalia or organisation of the zealots marching towards them. Ah well another small counter-demo another year gone by. Cant wait for the next one...or maybe I can
