26th March For the Alternative protest

[Lunatic Concept]

Looks like its gonna be a big one. Any UK comrades gonna turn up? :thumbup1:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=176812472328977

[hatzel]

I'm sure they'll be plenty of us putting in an appearance, and for good reason. I've already pencilled it into my diary, but as Friday is my last day at uni, there's a chance I might be too hungover to put in an appearance :lol: Still, let's hope I can push on through the suffering...

[bricolage]

.

On Saturday 26th March the Trades Union Congress has called for a march against the cuts, and there is going to be a South London feeder march starting at Kennington Park which we will be joining. South London is one of the areas to be hardest hit by the cuts and has seen some of the most inspiring resistance to their implementation with the storming and occupying of town halls, the occupying of libraries and university buildin...gs along with large demonstrations and regular small actions. Anarchists have played a key role in these struggles arguing that we fight the cuts based on the principles of solidarity, direct action, and self-organisation. We are calling on anarchists, libertarian communists and militant workers from across the country who agree with these principles to join us on the demonstration to provide a visible presence and a revolutionary alternative to the reformism of the TUC.

With sufficient rank-and-file anger, the trade unions may be pushed into calling a general strike – only the second in British history. However, it’s us, not the union bosses who can stop the cuts. All reformist unions can offer us is sellouts like Aaron Porter from the NUS. We can’t put our faith in anything other than our own solidarity and ability to organise. We must take a lead in organising action ourselves rather than waiting on the TUC or anyone else to do it for us.

We also intend to argue that it is capitalism that has caused the crisis that has led to these cuts and that in response to their class war we need to reciprocate: meeting cuts with direct action - strikes, occupations and civil disobedience - whilst fighting for a different world which puts human needs first.

Bring red and black flags, banners and propaganda. The workers movement needs anarchist ideas and methods more than ever if we're to beat the cuts.

Meet at 11am Kennington Park, South London.
Called by South London Solidarity Federation and the Anarchist Federation


Posters:

http://www.mediafire.com/?vbls3pvqv8yg1v4

http://www.mediafire.com/?5zu2zej87qz85mt

[hatzel]

That's the main problem with marches as big as this...you've got to pick which group to 'hang out' with, and which of the countless starting points you want to choose. Oooooh, I'm spoilt for choice! :lol:

[Lunatic Concept]

Ill probably stick with the socialists rather than the anarchists :lol:
Dont take offence guys :)

[hatzel]

Ill probably stick with the socialists rather than the anarchists :lol:
Dont take offence guys :)

Don't worry about it...I'll be sticking with Jewdas, they being 'my people', and although the title of the call to arms was 'time to cause trouble', I don't expect any of us to get remotely rowdy...as we'll just be tagging along with UK Uncut :thumbup:

[bricolage]

I did like 'the largest mass protest since the exodus from Egypt'.

[hatzel]

I did like 'the largest mass protest since the exodus from Egypt'.


I just wonder who's going to part the Thames...

[Arlekino]

it was talks to occupy square. I wonder how people can do police will remove anyway and what can be done?

[hatzel]

Do you mean Parliament Square, Rasyte?

[Arlekino]

Well I think is Trafalgar square I am not sure. Could be can something done on that day, I am saluting on that and solidarity with all workers. The only on sceptical point do Police and Govermant are would be nice to all workers I don't think so, they got dogs, ammunitions, and they got power to remove people sad but is probably truth.

[Lunatic Concept]

They managed to do it last time. We all had a nice warm fire on trafalgar plinth when suddenly about 60 cops started climbing up the sides and pushing everyone off. Looked like the battle of helms deep :lol:

[Lunatic Concept]

Also, heres a page for a planned black bloc of your interested :cool:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=197907690231890

[bricolage]

urgh, black bloc

[hatzel]

urgh, black bloc

All the best black blocs are like totally organised on Facebook, though...:rolleyes:

[Sam_b]

Ill probably stick with the socialists rather than the anarchists

I think that this is actually missing the point. The choice should be which section of workers, which public service, which union, which anti-cuts group, indeed which section of the class you'll probably be in amongst.

I'll be marching with Glasgow Anti-Cuts activists and students.

[El Rojo]

myself and some friends will be with either the radical workers bloc, or the education bloc. as has been said above, so many choices!

Take care of each other guys! Don't turn your backs on the pigs if you can help it, try not to get kettled and be nice to other demonstrators. that means you Sam

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

cannae wait for this. ed milliband will be speaking at the rally, so bring tomatoes.

[bricolage]

this is the revolution! lets turn square x into tahrir square! egyptian style! wisconsin! TUC! GENERAL STRIKE!!!!!!!!! kettle!?!!?!?!?!
ad infinitum

[Tim Finnegan]

I can't go. Couldn't get it as the day off, and can't pull a sicky because it just so happens that one of the Villainous Bourgeois Lackies at my place of work is my mother, under whose roof I am currently obliged to live, and who is less than sympathetic to such suggestions. :(

...So, between this and missing out on the Heatherington thing, does that make me the official Worst UK Leftist on the board? 'Cos at least the title would be something. ;)

[hatzel]

I can't go. Couldn't get it as the day off, and can't pull a sicky

It's time to strike, then. Generally, if possible.

[Tim Finnegan]

It's time to strike, then. Generally, if possible.
Actually, there's a point- if that does kick off, what are the options for sympathiser in non-union workplaces? Would we be able to attain any protections at all if we affiliated ourselves with some union or other, or would striking just be a slow way of tendering your resignation?

[hatzel]

Would we be able to attain any protections at all if we affiliated ourselves with some union or other, or would striking just be a slow way of tendering your resignation?

Something tells me that the mere act of joining a union is just a slow way of tendering your resignation nowadays...

[bricolage]

All the best black blocs are like totally organised on Facebook, though...:rolleyes:
lol. (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23934324-met-tidy-up-to-avoid-trouble-at-anti-cuts-demo.do)


Anarchist groups such as the Black Block have told supporters to dress in black hoodies to avoid identification.

[Tim Finnegan]

lol. (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23934324-met-tidy-up-to-avoid-trouble-at-anti-cuts-demo.do)

UK Uncut, is plotting to occupy a "top secret target".Ooh, "plotting". How much more daring than merely planning! :rolleyes:

[bricolage]

ah man uk uncut is so lame.

[Tim Finnegan]

ah man uk uncut is so lame.
But they're plotting!

http://www.****scorner.com/upload/1216396544.jpg

So cool! :cool:

[Lord Testicles]

When you think about it, the entire march is lame. We all march past Downing street right into Hyde Park so we can disrupt picnickers whilst being surrounded by hundreds of TUC stewards snitches.

[hatzel]

When you think about it, the entire march is lame. We all march past Downing street right into Hyde Park so we can disrupt picnickers whilst being surrounded by hundreds of TUC stewards snitches.

Nothing wrong with a nice day in the park :)

[PhoenixAsh]

why don't you stop by for a cup of tea and a scone with the pm?

[Lord Testicles]

Nothing wrong with a nice day in the park :)

There is when you apparently want to make a point so you choose the only spot in London where you will inconvenience as little capitalists as possible. Anyway, I'll see you all there, I hope it rains.


why don't you stop by for a cup of tea and a scone with the pm?

My thoughts exactly, we're passing by and after all "we're all in this together."

[hatzel]

Anyway, I'll see you all there, I hope it rains.

You and Sam_b are going to be dragging the whole mood down :rolleyes:

[Rooster]

I can't go. Couldn't get it as the day off, and can't pull a sicky because it just so happens that one of the Villainous Bourgeois Lackies at my place of work is my mother, under whose roof I am currently obliged to live, and who is less than sympathetic to such suggestions. :(

...So, between this and missing out on the Heatherington thing, does that make me the official Worst UK Leftist on the board? 'Cos at least the title would be something. ;)

Incidentally, the Free Heatherington Club will be broadcasting it on a projector or something till late. Their facebook says 1200-2200.

I won't be able to attend the London march. I can't get time off work either. If I don't work, I don't eat :crying:

[hatzel]

If I don't work, I don't eat :crying:

9Ha6h9h78CU

I feel the Swedish speakers might get the (single line) link here...others no...

But don't worry, my pretties, those of us who will be showing our faces will represent you well (by being frustrated and muttering obscenities under our breath)

[human strike]

Showing our faces? That's not really the kind of thing I had in mind doing there tbh. ^_-

[ellipsis]

I'm sure they'll be plenty of us putting in an appearance, and for good reason. I've already pencilled it into my diary, but as Friday is my last day at uni, there's a chance I might be too hungover to put in an appearance :lol: Still, let's hope I can push on through the suffering...

To allow comrades to drink and neglect party duties, this is liberalism.

Combat liberalism!

[PhoenixAsh]

...but its wodka...wodka isn't liberal...

[bricolage]

We all know this march won’t stop a single cut

None of us really believe that marching from A to B convinces the government of anything much any more, still less the predictable and boring speeches at the end. Labour didn’t listen to the million or more of us who marched against war eight years ago; and the ConDems won’t listen to us today.

Why should they? This poses no threat to their profit or power. Big demonstrations can build confidence, but they can also make us feel like we’re “doing something” when we’re not doing much.

“This is only the beginning”

Within the next few months, there is likely to be strike action declared in the NHS, local government, and in education; perhaps also in the civil service. In the long years of defeat, our movement has got used to fighting in a certain way: one day strikes, often with little real participation or decision-making by the rank and file, often called off by senior negotiators.

Just as we know that today’s march isn’t enough, we should also know that these methods will not lead us to defeat this onslaught. In fact, if we’re honest, they weren’t even enough during the Labour years. The Unison pensions dispute in 2007, or the recent Royal Mail disputes, show that the old ways weren’t sufficient even for the old attacks. And what we’re facing here is something more.

Learning from the defeat of austerity in France, 1995

In 1995, the French working class faced a similar austerity package, including welfare and pension cuts. Whilst there had been some important strikes in the preceding decades, the movement in general was unconfident. Unions called a one-day strike in certain areas. What happened took everyone by surprise.

Rather than just letting trade union officials run the strike, workers – first of all on the railways, then in other sectors – began to organise their strikes through mass assemblies. These assemblies, reserved the right to determine the direction of strikes and the terms on which they would be ended. They decided not to go back to work until their demands were met; immediately taking the movement into their own hands, making it more than just another prop for negotiators. Not only did they strike, they occupied; and they made sure it wasn’t only a public sector dispute, as strikes spread into the private sector. Three and a half weeks later, almost all their demands had won.

This sort of thing isn’t impossible for us here. The 2009 Tower Hamlets College strike lasted four weeks, and was organised by an open strike committee and regular assemblies open to all workers to discuss major decisions. It was preceded by unofficial action: lecturers walking out in support of a janitor (in a different union) who was threatened with disciplinary action. Like the 1995 movement in France, it wasn’t perfect: but it shows we can go beyond the futile old routines. (See thecommune.co.uk for more on these strikes.)

The most important thing is to be honest with ourselves, and others: the old ways won’t work. Many workers will be worried about losing pay: but at some point we have to say enough! Or else they will take everything we have, a penny and an hour at a time; and they will take from our children and our children’s children in turn—until we fight back hard. This may mean going outside union structures: OK! If union leaders cannot offer us anything more effective or participatory, how can they complain?

The union leaders aren’t going to call a general strike, and there’s no sense calling on them to do so in order to “expose” them. Any strike will be organised from below, by workers taking control of the movement and turning it to their purposes.

We make the world we live in

Public sector workers are typically not engaged in the direct production of profit: we reproduce the society that allows the profit making sections to function; educating future workers (and looking after the younger ones), curing the ill, and doing our best to remedy the social chaos which capitalism routinely creates in the lives of the less well off. We keep the tax rolling in, and the benefits rolling out.

Our power lies in disrupting this reproduction. Some people won’t like that: we’ll be accused of being selfish. But what else can we do? The selfish ones are those who put us in this position; whereas, in the end – if we really believe our own slogans – everyone has to gain from the victory of our battle.

To struggle independently, to show each other solidarity across every boundary, to care more about each other than the law, or the rule-book: this is the alternative of working-class struggle!.

[Lunatic Concept]

Seemed to go well. Anyone get arrested? ;)

[PhoenixAsh]

why
?

don't ask.

[Lunatic Concept]

Anyone got any idea when the next one is planned for?

[IndependentCitizen]

Anyone got any idea when the next one is planned for?

Another TUC demonstration? Probably in 2018, and December. So it's cold and people won't come.

I'm not aware of another protest, but Summer's going to be an active one. The cuts are just about biting hard, and they're due to get harder. And when they do, boy, we'll possibly have millions on the streets. And much more will get done.