Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth sculpture was recently unveiled, so as I was nearby, I decided to go and have a look. When I arrived in the afternoon on 9 August 2020, I saw a lot of police vans parked in the square, and workers hosing down the steps. There was a small group of people mixed with the police. When I saw an Extinction Rebellion jacket, I Googled what was happening, and found Extinction Rebellion were holding a protest to mark International Day of World's Indigenous Peoples.
They had poured vast amounts of fake blood on the steps and turned the fountain water a luminous yellow, in solidarity with indigenous people dying in Brazil. By the time I arrived, cleaners had virtually finished hosing the steps, although they were still stained red. And the fountains were an odd shade of yellow.
Protesters had been lying in the fake blood pretending to be dead, they wanted to raise awareness of number of indigenous people dying from disease in Brazil. Brazil has been really badly hit by Covid-19. More than 100,000 people have died in Brazil, BBC report.
Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a global environmental movement with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk of social and ecological collapse. But I wonder if they give any thought to the amount of water that was used to clean up their mess. And I hoped the dye was harmless as the pigeons were drinking and bathing in the red water.
Surprisingly the protest didn't seem to make many national newspapers.
The Fourth Plinth. Over the years, this has had some weird sculptures, in my view. The latest one is definitely odd! It was put up at the end of July. I'd gone past on 3 July when the plinth was empty -
The new sculpture is called The End, it features a dollop of whipped cream with an assortment of toppings: a cherry, a fly, and a drone. The drone will film passers-by and you can log onto a live stream.
Described as representing “exuberance and unease” and a “monument to hubris and impending collapse”, The End, by British artist Heather Phillipson, will stay in place until spring 2022. It is the 13th Fourth Plinth commission and the tallest so far – at nearly 31 ft. See ITV News report.
And finally, Tourism Malaysia office and a Pride bus stop -
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