I have been thinking long and hard about how to optimise passive solidarity with striking tube workers. All week in fact. Is it more solidarious to make a big deal of the pain the associated disruption caused you or is it more solidarious to take it in your stride? The point of the strike is disruption; a successful strike is disruptive. In which case, it is important to stress that the strike caused you lots of trouble – this should count as praise of the strike. This is generally the line taken by all those goofs the Evening Standard finds on the street and recruits for 20 words of moaning.
The trouble with those goofs is that they all too often go on to suggest that the strikers are of their essence very bad and should be prevented by emergency legislation from enacting any further heinous withdrawal of labour. This is where they go wrong.
I have devised an equation for constructing strike-sympathetic comments to provide to newspapers:
Stress enormous painful disruption caused + Express sympathy for strikers themselves = Maximum optimal solidarity
Also, who are those 'volunteers' who appear in Underground stations during strikes? Are they picket line-crossing tube workers or are they general purpose anti-strike fans? What is their fucking game?
