The G20 Protest: The PR war with no winners!

The G20 summit that passed through London last week, aside from trying to save the world from environental and economic self-destruction, also played host to an ideological clash that was played out in its entirety within a bottle's throw of a camera or microphone. The protest, designed to show that "capitalism was dead" or that we should "burn the bankers", hoped to bring about a seismic shift in the consensus of public opinion and lead to the current mood of resigned tolerance to the Establishment mutuate into unbridled anger. Conversely, it was the role of the Metroplitan Police to quell, usher and steer the protest toward their own optimal outcome through denying the media the riotous images for which they yearned, having trailed the conference excessively. What transpired achieved neither objective, yet still generated yards of column space discussing the respective failures of the protagonists.

As far as the geo-political campaigners were concerned, the summit represented a huge opportunity. Increased unemployment, growing reposessions and a public mood that was as at very best apathetic to banking, offered all the ammunition the protestors could have dreamed of, yet the actions of the few meant that the collective artillery backfired. Whilst an entirely peaceful, politically symobolic demonstration was always unlikely due to how these events are often hijacked by an anarchic minority, the subsequent images evoked modern memories of Los Angeles, Brimingham & Paris. The images of dummies on nooses and the hurling of fencing is likely to lead to a regression in the public perception of those who protest. Whilst, the salivating media were always likely to move toward a skewed representation of the scene, especially in terms of the role of the protestors, the manner in which the reservation of the masses was obscured by the extremity of the idiotic, has done considerable damage. After the collective voice of the Anti-Iraq War movement was remotely extinguished by the Bush administration, G20 almost represented a final opporturtunity for successful, responsible protest in the UK. Whilst the million person march's coherent argument was irresponsibly out-shouted in the House, the G20 candidates' never made it to the dispatch box. As a result, political protest in the UK will be perceived as perpetually futile, as the race to secure numbers that demonstrate sufficient electoral opinion will continually be tempered by the necessity of recruiting those whose intentions are honourable.

Similarly, the past week has hardly exemplified a progressive representation of UK policing in 2009. With the Metropolitan Police's image still reeling from the fall-out of Jean Charles de Menezes' killing, the successful control of 2009's highest profile protest would have been a welcome feather in their cap. After the calming of the initial storm, the post-lunch lull introduced a more serene atmosphere in the afternoon, more conducive to the environment that would have lead to the mutual achievement of respective objectives. Yet,as the increasing smell of success would have been as prominent as the relaxant that filled the air throughout the day, the Met still had to be aware of the sporadic pockets of disruption that still protruded. However, it wasn't until almost a week after the protest that the shocking footage of the treatment of Ian Tomlinson surfaced. Seeing an innocent man pushed to the ground by the same police that he had his back to, saw images of Rodney King and De Menezes brought back to the fore, a remedy to the previous pejorative scenes of civil disobedience. Whilst last week's mass mediated image was RBS's broken windows, this week will see mobile phone footage and the rising spectre of citizen journalism act as an indictment of the behaviour of the force. Whilst the anarchic images were swallowed amongst the banquet of coverage devoted to G20 last week, the timing of the footage's emergence will lead to it attracting a greater proportion of the news agenda this week. Similarly, the respective public expectation of police and protestors means that the acts of the police will be judged in a colder, harsher way.

Ultimately, the past 10 days has seen two sectors of society give the media exactly what they wanted and throw in their credibility in the process. As lawless protestors were doing the seemingly impossible in elliciting green shoots of compassion for bankers, the Met Police were sleepwalking into another extremely damaging story that will last as long as a criminal trial, civic trial and inquest. Whilst the current economic crisis, and its subsequent debate, has been oversimplified into an ideological battle between capitalism and socialism, the argument does have some contrasting factors. The battle has a lot further to run and the participants have to win the hearts and minds of society . As in Iraq, the key to this is the presentation of image. If the current downturn escalates into depression, this battle may turn into an outright media war, which, as we all know, has no winners.