Today is Guy Fawkes Day, and what used to be an occasion for bonfires and begging pennies from the neighbors has become a day of protest thanks to Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel V for Vendetta; the Guy Fawkes mask worn by their anonymous revolutionary V has become a symbol of protest worldwide. The protest group Anonymous plans a march on the British Parliament this evening to re-enact the final scene from the graphic novel. The event, dubbed "Operation Vendetta," will be live-streamed here.
Meanwhile, Moore will be marking the occasion with the release date of his first single "The Decline of English Murder." The song can be downloaded from Occupation Records, the record label that came out of the Occupy movement; it'll set you back a quid, but he also released a video, which features clips of Occupy protests. (Ironically, it starts with an ad.) The Guardian calls the song "a gloomy and at times opaque ballad that likens the stark economic inequities challenged by Occupy to the work of a killer ... The song, with Moore half-speaking, half-singing his words to a musical backing by Joe Brown, is as mournful as you might expect from something that namechecks a motorway service station near Preston in its first line."