NO2ID

Hi,

I am going to the Glastonbury Festival in a few weeks, and I've had terrible trouble getting the photo ID card that they require me to carry in order to get into the festival (a citizencard).

Citizencard are piss poor. Their identity verification process is pretty suspect. You could certainly order a Citizencard with any photo and signature you wanted on it. Additionally, they have lost several orders that I know of, and still haven't delivered cards for four of my friends, who also need them for Glastonbury.

I am sure that a lot of festival-goers will have been messed about by Citizencard, so I thought that Glastonbury might be an ideal place to try to raise awareness of national ID card issues. People will already be pissed off by Citizencard: so it will be a good time to say "You think THIS is bad! Wait 'till you HAVE to have one!". It might even be possible to get the issue on TV, as coverage of the festival is pretty good, and the BBC do cover things that are happening there which aren't music-related.

So.. Are any official protests planned for Glastonbury? If not.. do you have any suggestions about how I could publicise the issue there? I was thinking of making an anti-ID-card flag for my campsite, taking some No2ID leaflets with me, and handing them out to any interested people who asked about the flag.

Interested to hear your thoughts...

We actually decided against glastonbury this year after many year's attendance, partly because of the ID requirements!..but your post got me thinking. How about pitching your tent on one of the many places where there is a 'crossroads' of paths - the one in the family field part way up the hill comes to mind, or several on 'pennards' (depends on where you like to camp). A nice big 'no2id flag' would draw attention, and many people may stop and read any leaflets spread out on a blanket etc - and anyway, being glastonbury, it'd be another way of meeting people for a chat (etc.. ). People are always interested in something different. When we've gone in the past, we've always had a big Icelandic flag (partner's country), and people often come up and ask where from etc, and it's been a good conversation point, so the No2id flag may be the same!

We're going to the 'Beautiful Days' festival, so your post has got me thinking that we should do the same there...

Well, if none of you official no2id people have an objection, I think I will do this. This post describes my plans. I'd be keen to hear any comments, particularly if you think what I'm planning to do might actually hurt the no2id cause in some way, because I am worried about doing that by mistake.

I am sorting out a design for a flag at the moment. I am hoping to print it onto a white sheet using iron-on transfers. I want it to look like a Citizencard in order to attract people's attention. This is tricky, because Citizencard aren't who I'm protesting about... it's really the issue of mandatory registration for an ID card. As I will have to explain.

Here's some of the text I am thinking of having on the flag:

- CITIZENCRAP
- The government plans to introduce mandatory ID cards within 10 years
- If you value your freedom, now is the time to stop them. Say no.
- no2id.net

Also thinking of having a photo of T. Blair saying something like "FUCK YOUR FREEDOM".. purely as an attention-seeking measure. Might be a bit puerile though - what do you think?

Avoid obscenity, it'll only give the organisers an excuse to remove you.

Understood.

I'd be pleased to hear any other suggestions?

A Slogan, "Are You Listerning" Would sound ok, as he has been claiming he is listerning to the people and clearly he is not..

Hi,

The citizencard thing is something that's been worrying me - we have to have them to get to glastonbury (unless we risk losing passports etc), but do you think the number of sign-ups for these cards could be used as a pro-id card argument?
E.g. "Look how many people are quite willing to carry a government-approved ID card", "sign-up rates to citizencard are increasing" etc...

Was thinking that if everyone publicly destroyed their citizencard as soon as Glasto finishes (or during the festival itself, of course) it would be quite a statement. No idea how this could be coordinated or publicised though.

What do people think?

I think you are right, but I don't really have any ideas about publicising mass destruction of Citizencards.

The sign-up rates for Citizencards will help the Government's case - they'll conveniently ignore the fact that we had no choice about signing up. We will be able to point to the fact that Citizencard found it hard to cope with demand for their cards in the run-up to Glastonbury, implying that the national identity registration database would have similar problems, but this case might be a little weak, as the Government will just claim that Citizencard were underfunded or something.