Ever wanted to bring capitalism crashing down but can’t get time off work to do it?

Went to see Mark Thomas last night, he was great. He’s launched a company, McDemos, offering as a service, not just applying to demonstrate in Parliament Square (which under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 requires permission to be granted by the police 6 days in advance) but to demonstrate on your behalf as well.

I’m thinking of purchasing a demonstration, partly to support free speech but also to campaign in favour of a DVD release for Mark’s TV series The Mark Thomas Comedy Product. It’s available to download in divx format at his website but the quality’s rough and there’s only one episode at a time. Still, I suppose that’s enough to prevent a popular uprising…

About Simon Wood

Lecturer in medical education, lapsed mathematician, Doctor Who fan and garden railway builder. See simonwood.info for more...

2 thoughts on “Ever wanted to bring capitalism crashing down but can’t get time off work to do it?

  1. Rent-a-demonstration. It’s a concept whose time has come.

    We have rent-a-demonstrators on the other side of the pond, too.

    Usually it’s just 5 to 10 bored-looking homeless people holding up a big banner outside some faceless office building saying “Shame on [insert filthy, free-market, souless corporation’s name here]”

    Reason: these fiendish corporations have usually undertaken to expand the corporate toilets and they’ve undertaken to hire completely legal, licensed and bonded plumbers or drywallers who just happen to be (gasp) non-union.

    It’s necessary for the displaced union workers to hire rent-a-demonstrators instead of protesting themselves for a variety or reasons. First, it’s really dull and boring. Second, it’s hot outside and third, they’ve all taken scab jobs working for the very contractors that were hired to do the construction for the corporations being protested against in the first place. How else would they know when somebody’s toilet is being expanded?

    Who said you can’t have your cake and eat it, too?

  2. Rent-a-demonstration. It’s a concept whose time has come.

    We have rent-a-demonstrators on the other side of the pond, too.

    Usually it’s just 5 to 10 bored-looking homeless people holding up a big banner outside some faceless office building saying “Shame on [insert filthy, free-market, souless corporation’s name here]”

    Reason: these fiendish corporations have usually undertaken to expand the corporate toilets and they’ve undertaken to hire completely legal, licensed and bonded plumbers or drywallers who just happen to be (gasp) non-union.

    It’s necessary for the displaced union workers to hire rent-a-demonstrators instead of protesting themselves for a variety or reasons. First, it’s really dull and boring. Second, it’s hot outside and third, they’ve all taken scab jobs working for the very contractors that were hired to do the construction for the corporations being protested against in the first place. How else would they know when somebody’s toilet is being expanded?

    Who said you can’t have your cake and eat it, too?

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