Daily Mail Exposes ICC Plot

[Leo]

http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2010/11/daily-mail

“Student militants have joined forces with French communists to picket England’s secondary schools urging pupils as young as 15 to stage a walkout over university tuition fees.

Supporters of using ‘legitimate force’ to try to stop the rise in fees have been joined by members of the International Communist Current (ICC) to mobilise school children.

Activists want to leaflet schools across the country in the latest day of action, planned for Wednesday.

More than 20,000 young people have signed up to take part in a ‘national walkout’ on Wednesday. The majority are school pupils and further education students.

Campaign group Education Activist Network held a protest planning meeting on Saturday at Birkbeck College, London.

This was attended by at least one member of the ICC.

The ICC has a long tradition of direct action dating from the student protests in 1968 which paralysed France.

The EAN’s ringleader is Mark Bergfeld, 23, who has supported the use of ‘legitimate force’ to bring down the Government and called for ‘barricaded schools’.

Mr Bergfeld, who attends Essex University, said at Saturday’s meeting: ‘What you can do is, between now and the 24th, give out leaflets outside the schools so they know what we’re doing. Then on the day, they can join you.’

Also present were town hall and Health Service workers, school teachers and university lecturers”.

:lol:

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Wrong day (unless i've missed something), wrong organisation.:lol:

Try again, twats.:lol:

[Leo]

From the ICC response:


The conspiracy-mongering of bourgeois journalism, which can never envisage a genuine movement of revolt from below, but must always trace it back to some devilishly cunning Moriaty spinning his webs in the shadows, has a long history

(...)

We are a tiny group. We participate in the class struggle as best as our forces allow, and we have been active in a number of the discussions, meetings and demonstrations that are part of the present movement of the students against tuition fees and the abolition of EMA payments. We were indeed present at the EAN meeting described. We are proud to be an international organisation (which is different to being a purely French one, of course) and we can indeed trace our origins to the tremendous strike wave that shook France in May 1968.

But we make no pretence to being the organisers of the present movement – we don’t even see that as our role.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

The current movement largely resembles the anarchist vision of resistance, in that it is locally-driven and devoid of hierarchical leadership. I won't elaborate more.

I'm really hoping I recover from this head trauma to participate on Tuesday. So important to keep this pressure up.

[bailey_187]

:lol:

What is the ICC's view towards these protests though?

[bricolage]

:lol:

What is the ICC's view towards these protests though?
http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2010/10/student-demonstration

[bricolage]

The current movement largely resembles the anarchist vision of resistance, in that it is locally-driven and devoid of hierarchical leadership. I won't elaborate more.
It's an interesting idea, I saw it referenced here (http://libcom.org/news/interview-anarchist-student-occupier-sheffield-university-24112010);

What do you make of Aaron Porter’s recent comments that the students are “aligning themselves with the anarchists”?

Firstly I think it is worth pointing out that he is mistaken in the sense that he is probably largely referring to many students who aren’t, or have little knowledge of, anarchists. The only sense in which students are “aligning with anarchists” is the fact that anarchist principles are in line with the type of actions that students are currently taking – direct action, assembly democracy, non-hierarchy and the rejection of representatives.

People, students in particular, are coming to the realisation that simply asking politicians to do something doesn’t work. The result is that they are starting to take matters into their own hands, collectively and at a grassroots level.

Anarchist education workers and students are very much a part of these struggles but certainly a minority within them. The tactics – of self-management, non-hierarchy and direct action – have been adopted in many places quite spontaneously. This is, of course, far more preferable to us! It’s ultimately what we want – not a struggle controlled or led by anarchists, but one that shares our goals, tactics and principles.
It's a similar idea to that which people like David Graeber have been putting forward for years that the anti-globalisation 'spokes councils', 'direct action' etc was embryonic forms of anarchism. I think this is problematic as it reduced anarchism to merely a form of action and a series of tactics as well as being totally prefigurative, not taking into account what it is that this will lead to and even whether you can keep up such 'radical' forms without co-option. That being said I think it is fair to say these protests have been run along what would be nearer to anarchist principles than anything else, they have certainly escaped the control of any group, be it NUS, NCAFC or EAN, and are rapdily outflanking whichever of these organisations calls the days of action.