I went along with Claire to speakers corner to try and
a.understand the area better and
b. try out the have your say (silently) cards.
I'd never been before but it was one of the most interesting places to go in London. After meeting so many weird and wonderful people and if honest being bombarded by so many people trying to inflict their opinion upon you (by the end of the day your head is in a messed up state, with me arriving home babbling on about random things) I learnt that the people shouting out on the stools, do not really care about other people's opinions and some times start a fight for no apparent reason on strangers walking by, some of them listen but have a good defence, and then when they feel like they can no longer defend what they are trying to say end up having a go at the person smoking in the crowd- they all turned on the smokers! It is definitely somewhere that you can go to have a giggle or a fight, mostly about religion. Which was a shame as I thought there were going to be loads of political rants going on- especially in this climate. But you know I think the most interesting thing about it is how debates are started up between strangers in the crowds. It was a really beautiful sight to see ideas spark between different people, learning and debating with one another- not because they were in a situation they had to, like work or school, but for the pure pleasure of it. Either being inspired or interrogated by the people around you. The beauty of this place was the spoken element and that form of interaction- so after a while of us showing up and deciding to use our have your say silently cards- i felt it just was not appropriate for this situation- people liked the ideas but didn't really join in, just took the cards but didn't use them. Instead when I was there all i felt like doing was joining in.
We met a great chap called Vince (he was not a speaker but he knew all the regulars in the area), throughout the 4 hours we were there, we talked and laughed about different situations and what the other speakers were shouting out about. The beautiful thing that I took away from it was he found the love of his life hugging a tree, this is what makes life so beautiful, when you find snippets of personal information about others that get you thinking. There was also a philosopher who kept asking to fill in claire's questionnaire every 5 minutes as he had new thoughts and answers to the questions. Some really interesting thoughts. Maybe one day I will go and do what Vince suggested, which was get a stand myself and speak to everyone- just have a giggle and join in.The man to the left- was definitely the most interesting speaker (with a stand). He used props and was very quick with hecklers- which is what you need to be if you don't want to end up getting punched! The speakers that can interact and not just shout at the public are the ones who attract the biggest audiences.
At the end of that Sunday, I felt maybe it was wrong to try and approach speakers corner with a silent approach, I think there are other ways of communicating to be had in this area of Hyde Park, and silence can be effective, but what makes this space special is its voice, and I wouldn't want to take that experience away from speaker's corner.
