Walk like an Egyptian
With legal aid slipping through the looking glass, Russell Conway rallies the troops
The chap sitting opposite me on the tube looked pretty grim. He was glaring at me and he seemed to mean business. I tried to work out who he was. I did not recognise him, he was not a client and I could not quite understand why he looked so upset and apparently intent on tearing me limb from limb.
I went back to reading my paper hoping that by avoiding eye contact he would quieten down and avoid what seemed to be something of a problematic encounter.
Reading the Metro on a crowded tube is never much fun, but with some sort of maniac in the seat opposite you looking as though they want to inflict permanent damage upon you is deeply unsettling.
At that point the chap sprang to his feet and I sunk deeper into my seat trying to cover my face with the newspaper. It was at this point that I realised it was not me that was upsetting him but what was displayed on the advertisement above the seat. Stuck on one of the advertisement hoardings on the train was a small sticker advocating some form of far right fascist party and singing the praises of Oswald Mosley.
He was incensed. He started clawing at the piece of paper, breaking his nails in the process, desperately trying to get rid of the offending sticker. 'Don't just sit there,' he said. 'Why don't you all help? We must do something. We can't just sit here and allow the fascists to win.'
No one assisted and he carried on clawing at the sticker until the man sitting beneath it was covered in a fine layer of bits of paper, much to his annoyance.
Action stations
Direct action is a difficult business. It manifests itself in many forms. Just recently my local authority decided it would be a good idea to save money by closing my public library.
As the library is quite small and is only staffed by about two people yet serves many thousands, the local community became quite upset, dare I say rebellious. At the inevitable public meeting there was much call for petitions, marches, lobbying of MPs and writing to ministers. The meeting was packed with several hundred people. But only one person suggested that inevitably if matters did not take a turn for the better our only choice would be to occupy the library, bed down in it, perhaps change the locks and take it over for the community.
There was a sharp intake of breath at that suggestion, as of course it is not our way to deal with things quite so drastically. Yet, we are currently on the brink of the most severe cuts to the legal aid system that this country has ever known.
The system that was once to die for and the best in the world is now being given the traditional death by a thousand cuts. Who knows what will be left if anything in a year or two? There is not much talk of direct action by legal aid lawyers.
Obviously there is no talk of direct action by customers as they only go to lawyers when a problem befalls them. Most people think it will never happen to them, in the same way that we all think our house will never fall victim to a burglary.
Taking the lead
If we are to oppose the government's plans it is only the legal profession that can take the lead. The general public do not really care and the majority of them do not understand that in a few years legal aid will be very difficult to come by and in many cases will not be available at all for their problems.
Solicitors have, however, always run a million miles from direct action of all kinds. There is an ethical base to the profession and perhaps a politeness which shows little of the frustration of the man on the tube, or the wish to occupy a much-loved local service. Yet sometimes direct action is the only thing that produces results.
Our friends in Tunisia and Egypt know only too well that if they had simply sat back and done nothing then their regime change would not have happened. Sometimes, values, ideals and services are too important to be destroyed. Sometimes we need to stand up and be counted and take steps that we may not like but which are all that is left to us.
This is the Chinese year of the rabbit, Cosmo the dog's favourite things to chase. Let us hope that the legal aid system does not fall into a bottomless rabbit hole like Alice did in Alice in Wonderland. I suspect that once the legal aid system has fallen down that hole there will be nothing left to replace it.