Everything Is Okay: London Protestors Encourage Free Speech (And Hugs)

In the spirit of Bill Hicks’ notorious “Go Back To Bed America” sketch, Londoners Charlie and Danny – aka The Love Police – take their cheerful, Orwellian-inspired brand of anti-establishment satire to the streets of London, spreading their philosophies via megaphone to consumers, passers-by, tourists and – more often that not – mortified and bewildered policemen who don’t quite know how to handle them.

Holding up signs like “Question Everything “ and the sardonic “Everything Is OK”, the merry pranksters offer sarcastic messages about the benefits of capitalism (“don’t worry about the millions of Chinese who are starving because of the system – after all, there’s loads of them!”), question concepts of private property and taunt the ever-present police by describing them as “actors in uniforms” who are increasingly part of a “corporate gang.”

Though their approach is light-hearted, their grassroots activism is serious.

Britain in 2009 is a densely media-saturated country and, increasingly, a nanny-state where CCTV and intense policing have become the norm for reasons that are at best ambiguous.

Danny and Charlie mock the constant invocation of the “terrorism” phrase to justify these increasingly ham-fisted attempts at control, while promoting freedom of speech and general goodwill. As you can see from the videos, the boys give a pretty mean hug too – yep, even to the po-faced boys in blue.

And here – including a level-headed but inspiring monologue (set to horribly sentimental music) from Charlie on the duo’s key messages.

What do you think of this type of activism? Is it effective? Share your thoughts in the comments!