On the march Carl O'BrienShe didn't expect it. But Helen Hoare learned a lot from taking part in a simple protest march aimed at influencing world leaders to tackle some of the most important issues of our time.
"We didn't know what to expect, really," says the 51-year-old lawyer, who travelled to an anti-poverty protest at Gleneagles with two Irish friends, Aileen (45) and Patsy (61).
"There was a sense of, 'please God, don't let these anarchists go out of control'. But we also felt strongly about these issues, we heard Bob Geldof's call, so we came.
"If anything this week taught me about the need to reclaim the right to protest. We've allowed ourselves to be run out of it, by people like anarchists, which has made it easy for authorities to dismiss protest movements.
"But they couldn't ignore this. We had it in the '60s, and I thought we had lost it. Maybe life became too comfortable. That's why I feel thrilled with my kids. They're proud of me for going over, as were middle-class friends who'd be sympathetic to the issues. I feel thrilled."
Helen and her friends - who nicknamed themselves "the three mammies" - were among tens of thousands of ordinary protesters, veteran campaigners and political activists who came to demand justice for Africa over the last week.
The communique issued yesterday by G8 leaders, for all its flaws, vague constructs and obfuscations, has bookended a hugely significant seven days.
It was a week where a civil movement effectively forced a change of policy on major global issues and challenged the sense of powerlessness ordinary people feel in being able to address them.
The experience has changed and shaped perspectives of many people who have taken part in the protests, demonstrations and even rock concerts of the last few days. It reaffirmed some people's faith in the power of protest. For others it radicalised them into taking more robust action on issues of debt, aid and trade. For almost everyone, it finally gave them a sense their voice had been heard in some form.
Graham McCleod, a 40-year-old DJ from the Scottish town of Dunfreece, sees the flaws in the G8's pledges and wants to do more.
Once a "Tory boy" as a teenager, his politics swung towards the Greens in the intervening years. He says this week's events have helped to change his politics further.
"I'm a moderate, but I felt myself becoming more radical as the week went on," says McCleod. "I'm definitely reddening up politically as a result. It's made me ever more aware of the injustices we're marching against. You couldn't fail to walk away from something like this without feeling more radical. Not in a violent way. I just feel more passionate," he says.
The actions of a police force which, as he saw it, was obsessed with control and muscle-flexing, has also changed his views on personal freedom issues.
"We've embarked on a scary, slippery slope, where civil liberties are at risk. The violent actions of a few gives authorities the will and the right, and as they see it, to take even more draconian steps to limit protest and keep people under control," he said.
Elwin Wald, a civil servant and father of two from Ballyclare, was one of the estimated 225,000 protesters who marched through Edinburgh last week. The decision to bring his two daughters, Kathryn (15) and Leah (9), was important because it gave them a chance to add their voice to a major civil movement campaigning on issues of vital importance.
"It was beneficial being part of the movement, making up the numbers.
"It's important and influential. It's like the film, The Girl in the Cafe. We can influence G8 leaders . . . We're Christians and we're of the view that those who have should be willing to give to people who have not."
The Make Poverty History rally was the first political protest Anna Collier (24), a nurse from Newtownabbey, was ever on.
Having taken part in solidarity with some of her African friends, she says the protest has made her more aware of her responsibilities in the world.
'Everyone is going on about the need for G8 leaders to take responsibility for the world, but we need to be responsible as well," she says. "I don't recycle, for instance, or find out enough about the background of a product and where it comes from. We all have a role to play, however small that is."
Series concluded.