Fuck the Olympics

[bricolage]

Ok yah yah yah it's a union bureaucrat and will probably end up not happening like the RMT's threat to disrupt the royal wedding but I would love to see the whole olympics brought to it's knees. Here's hoping.

Q: One of the comments I got on the blog I posted inviting readers to suggest questions was about strike action during the Olympics. [It was from Imageark.] Is that something you have talked about?

A: Absolutely, yes. The attacks that are being launched on public-sector workers at the moment are so deep and ideological that the idea the world should arrive in London and have these wonderful Olympic Games as though everything is nice and rosy in the garden is unthinkable. Our very way of life is being attacked. By then this crazy Health and Social Care Bill may have been passed. So we are looking at the privatisation of our National Health Service. I believe the unions, and the general community, have got every right to be out protesting. If the Olympics provide us with an opportunity, then that's exactly one that we should be looking at.http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/feb/28/len-mccluskey-unions-london-olympics

[brigadista]

no one with a job in london will be able to get to work unless they leave home at least 2 hours early - a lot of people are taking holiday during the olympic period - its gonna be a nightmare on the roads...and on public transport

[bricolage]

there have been loads of evictions going on around the area cleansing it of 'unsavoury elements', all those involved in the construction of the sites have been treated like this, the city will become unbelievably militarised under the guise of the whole thing. the spiel about the economy or jobs is bullshit as well, it's all gonna be staffed by boris johnson's 'army of volunteers'. i went to look at the site the other week, didn't realise you actually walk through westfield to get to it! have to admire the cheekiness of it all but my lord...

[bricolage]

have to hand it to mccluskey, he's certainly got the politicos in a froth.


Completely unacceptable and unpatriotic

My position is unequivocal, there must be no disruption of the Games from any quarter

Any threat to the Olympics is totally unacceptable and wrong. This is a celebration for the whole country and must not be disrupted

Just plain wrong

I just think people will be gobsmacked, appalled, that someone thinks that at a time when we are finally hosting one of the greatest events in the world, he is calling for civil disobedience. I know he is the sort of paymaster of the Labour Party but I hope Ed Miliband will rein him in

No one in our country looking forward to the Olympics, no athlete preparing, and none of our thousands of potential visitors, would understand or sympathise with any disruption to the Olympic games. If this is a negotiation it should take place in private. Unions and employers should get together and sort it out without threats or disruption to Britain's Olympics

[Ocean Seal]

Don't fuck the Olympics. If the workers are taking strike action, all the better. But a stop to production when we need to stop it most.

[magicme]

I say fuck the olympics. Elites holding a party that the workers will be paying for for years. Much of the money to fund the potentially medal winning sports participants has been taken from grassroots projects that may well (when they weren't being milked by private companies for profit) have increased quality of life for regular people.

Then there's the plan to have separate traffic lanes for olympics officials and such. If anyone needs to get to hospital quickly during the games they'd be well advised to try and cadge a lift from some director of javelin throwing rather than an ambulance.

Well said that union geezer, though you're probs right that he wont go through with it.

[brigadista]

behind any action during the fucking olympics - stratford is an abomination- full of corporate property un occupied and unlived in -



but I will believe it when i see it -would believe the RMT but not sure about the others..

[MotherCossack]

this is the way i see it....

there are two of me.... its been going on a while now....

ME/! says: a plague on all their olympics! Hell...
Fuck the bleeding olympics...
Bleed the fucking olympics...
is it just me.... or does typing those words give anyone else an instant hit?
nice innit? shall i do it again?...
Fuck the olympics!... hey yeah... definitely something going on there...
wonder if it is because it is so unbritish ?
our ultimate moment in the spotlight...
when, as a nation we put up the world, open our doors,
through a great party and host the show!

the words, 'fuck the olympics' mean.... i hope your great party is shit and everyone has a shit time and no one ever comes to your shit party ever again.
which.. lets face it is the most unpatriotic attitude you could have, at the moment.
i reckon.
so... yeah... since this country hates me... i hate it...
fuck the olympics.
although... already the buzz has gone....
and why do i feel i have just handed something, to someone , who i do not like, on a plate.

oh yeah...it is dinner time. [i gotta cook]
i forgot about: ME/?....
later.

[Quail]

The point of a strike is to cause disruption. That's why it works as a tactic. Threatening the smooth-running of the Olympics, when all eyes will be on London and the UK, could really have an impact and benefit the workers. Working class people need to stand up and show that any attack on their conditions, their pay, their pensions will be met with strong opposition and will have consequences. Guilt tripping workers about disrupting the Olympics is just a way of making sure that their industrial action causes less of an impact. It's the usual bullshit. It's okay to strike, just as long as it doesn't bother anyone. It was the same when BA threatened to strike over the holiday period.

[Ele'ill]

Here's some links showing how the Olympics are nothing but an ego stroke for ruling class politicians, leaving hosting cities in debt and fucking up the environment.

http://open.salon.com/blog/jenthreat/2009/04/07/why_the_olympics_are_bad_for_all_cities

http://www.alternet.org/story/56128/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-29/dow-ceo-says-indian-opposition-to-olympics-sponsorship-is-beyond-belief-.html

[-NW2-]

When hotels, restaraunts, landlords etc raise their prices during the olympics, thats capitalism.

When workers ask for a couple of hundred quid to make up for the undoubted stresses and changes in hours and conditions that working during the olympics will bring, they are unpatriotic dinosaurs intent on ruining the olympics, the country, the world etc.

[l'Enfermé]

A strike that cripples the Olympics would be such a brilliant thing, I'd die of joy. I hate those things.

The 2014 Olympics, in Russia, Sochi, are being held on the 150th anniversary of the Circassian Genocide(Sochi is central to this, Sochi was a Circassian Port where the last expulsion of the Circassian took place), and there are events on a hill called the "Red Hill", where a large group of Circassians who tried to return to their homeland were ambushed by Czarist troops and massacred.

[MotherCossack]

why do we have to fuck the olympics, anyway?
i hate corporate fucksville.. namely stratford...aswell.
i hate all the profit-margin hugging, corporate corrupting monetary nonsense that is most sports nowadays...it sickens me...
football, for example...totally spoilt, i reckon.

but hang on....
why is all this so?
its like leaving your favourite cuddly toy or family photo album on the floor in the dirtiest public toilet in shitseville. then proclaiming belligerantly to all and and sundry:
"fuck cuddly toys or fuck photos they're stinky and soaked in piss."

i mean ... why do they have to take sport away from us.
maybe we made it easy...
sport aint my thing... art is my thing, and i aint about to hand that to them who have more than enough already.

[Ele'ill]

why do we have to fuck the olympics, anyway?
i hate corporate fucksville.. namely stratford...aswell.
i hate all the profit-margin hugging, corporate corrupting monetary nonsense that is most sports nowadays...it sickens me...
football, for example...totally spoilt, i reckon.

but hang on....
why is all this so?
its like leaving your favourite cuddly toy or family photo album on the floor in the dirtiest public toilet in shitseville. then proclaiming belligerantly to all and and sundry:
"fuck cuddly toys or fuck photos they're stinky and soaked in piss."

i mean ... why do they have to take sport away from us.
maybe we made it easy...
sport aint my thing... art is my thing, and i aint about to hand that to them who have more than enough already.

I don't understand your post here. Are you saying the Olympics shouldn't be opposed so harshly?

[bricolage]

O RLY? (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/mar/12/london-olympics-security-lockdown-london)

In addition to the concentration of sporting talent and global media, the London Olympics will host the biggest mobilisation of military and security forces seen in the UK since the second world war. More troops – around 13,500 – will be deployed than are currently at war in Afghanistan. The growing security force is being estimated at anything between 24,000 and 49,000 in total. Such is the secrecy that no one seems to know for sure.

During the Games an aircraft carrier will dock on the Thames. Surface-to-air missile systems will scan the skies. Unmanned drones, thankfully without lethal missiles, will loiter above the gleaming stadiums and opening and closing ceremonies. RAF Typhoon Eurofighters will fly from RAF Northolt. A thousand armed US diplomatic and FBI agents and 55 dog teams will patrol an Olympic zone partitioned off from the wider city by an 11-mile, £80m, 5,000-volt electric fence.

[Yazman]

One thing I am curious about with all the Olympics hate going on in here, is this:

If there's any Marxist-Leninists here, and particularly Soviet-supporting ones, that hate the Olympics/oppose it, then what's your view of the Soviet Union having hosted it?

[ColonelCossack]

One thing I am curious about with all the Olympics hate going on in here, is this:

If there's any Marxist-Leninists here, and particularly Soviet-supporting ones, that hate the Olympics/oppose it, then what's your view of the Soviet Union having hosted it?

Wasn't that in 1980? Very few M-Ls support the USSR at that time.

[dodger]

One thing I am curious about with all the Olympics hate going on in here, is this:

If there's any Marxist-Leninists here, and particularly Soviet-supporting ones, that hate the Olympics/oppose it, then what's your view of the Soviet Union having hosted it?

I'm 99.999999% Certain you didn't mean we should have joined the American boycott of the games Yazman......personally I support the games. I think you are all a bunch of kill joys. Though all the criticism thrown is perfectly valid. We paid for it, may as well enjoy it. Just hope it goes off safely and everyone has a great time.

[Yefim Zverev]

One thing I am curious about with all the Olympics hate going on in here, is this:

If there's any Marxist-Leninists here, and particularly Soviet-supporting ones, that hate the Olympics/oppose it, then what's your view of the Soviet Union having hosted it?

Olmypic games are fun but they are abused by capitalism, I think this post is about this.

As a marxist-leninist I think so and I'm not against olympics in absolutes.

Why are we still thinking in the dimension of capitalism ? Why are we so poor in thoughts and imagination ? Olympics under communism can work much better (I am not saying it was under communism in USSR but in the future). Everybody who visited olympics in USSR loved it. Perhaps it was the best ever made.

In the future it may work as a great place and tool with fun in order to bring workers of the world together share cultures have fun ... bring time together and stuff !

t3G1vl5UAxU

это была лучшая олимпиада....

[bricolage]

Leaders of hundreds of London Underground engineers, electricians and other workers have rejected an offer of £850 for working during the Olympic games because of "unacceptable conditions" attached to the deal.

Unite, which represents engineering, electrical, power control and management workers, said the company was demanding "unlimited flexibility" for an indefinite period of time after the Games have finished.

Regional officer John Morgan-Evans said: "Unite was prepared to accept the deal, but the strings attached are totally unacceptable. It would be irresponsible to accept this deal as it would put our members' health and safety at risk.

"Our members have been asked to agree to limitless changes to hours and place of work at short notice, not only during the games but for an undefined and potentially indefinite period after the games are over.

"We can't give London Underground a free hand to make such changes outside of the normal processes of negotiation. This has never been just about reward. It is also about protecting the health and family life of our members."

The same offer has been made to the Rail Maritime and Transport union, which has yet to decide whether to accept it.

Unite added that London bus operators are continuing to refuse to meet the union to discuss its claim for a payment of £500 for the Olympics period on behalf of 28,000 bus workers.

The union warned it will be balloting its members with a view to potential industrial action.

Peter Kavanagh, Unite's regional secretary for London, said: "London's bus operators are not taking their responsibility for transport during the Games seriously by refusing to even meet with Unite to discuss a reasonable Olympic payment.

"Bus workers will be central to the transport infrastructure during the Olympics and their importance should be recognised."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tube-workers-reject-olympic-offer-7566593.html

[bricolage]

One thing I am curious about with all the Olympics hate going on in here, is this:

If there's any Marxist-Leninists here, and particularly Soviet-supporting ones, that hate the Olympics/oppose it, then what's your view of the Soviet Union having hosted it?
well the objections are not to the event itself, I don't particularly enjoy athletics but if people want to watch it I've got no issue with it. the problem is that any large sporting event, especially in the last 20 years or so, is used as a way of tightening surveillance, militarisation, social control and is usually accompanied by evictions, repression and the like.

I have no idea what things were like for the soviet olympics but I'd be interested to learn.

[brigadista]

its gonna be total london lock down olympics + bleeding jubilee - better not be young and black.........

[pastradamus]

Whats wrong with the Olympics?

I can understand the point raised in the OP and that is something I can absolutely agree with. But whats wrong with the Olympics per-se?

[Prometeo liberado]

One thing I am curious about with all the Olympics hate going on in here, is this:

If there's any Marxist-Leninists here, and particularly Soviet-supporting ones, that hate the Olympics/oppose it, then what's your view of the Soviet Union having hosted it?

I'm not gonna support the Soviet Union rockin the Olympics of course but you gotta see it for the cold war nonsense that it was. Whatever the reasoning behind having Olympic games has been lost and should be put to rest. On that note though I do miss the GoodWill games.

[Yazman]

I'm 99.999999% Certain you didn't mean we should have joined the American boycott of the games Yazman......personally I support the games. I think you are all a bunch of kill joys. Though all the criticism thrown is perfectly valid. We paid for it, may as well enjoy it. Just hope it goes off safely and everyone has a great time.

I actually support the Olympics and think it's a good idea and a worthy event, however I am very critical of its exploitation for the purposes of expanding the police states in the anglosphere especially.

[MotherCossack]

I'm 99.999999% Certain you didn't mean we should have joined the American boycott of the games Yazman......personally I support the games. I think you are all a bunch of kill joys. Though all the criticism thrown is perfectly valid. We paid for it, may as well enjoy it. Just hope it goes off safely and everyone has a great time.

hear, here!
you took the words right out of my mouth mr!

we dont have to despise and fuck everything do we?
just because it has a lot of support and widespread appeal?
By all means lay into the insidious bollocks nonsense that seems to appear all over anything that grows these days!...... bit like noxious algae or alien mould!

but underneath .... if you can scrape off the parasitemia and deal with the cheating scum who try to buy glory there is something in a good old innocent sports day!

otherwise..... what is there...? really?
why bother with anything?

[MotherCossack]

Whats wrong with the Olympics?

I can understand the point raised in the OP and that is something I can absolutely agree with. But whats wrong with the Olympics per-se?

i would have to concur and refer you to my post above.

[Regicollis]

There is nothing wrong with athletes from all over the world coming together to compete.

But there is something wrong with the Olympics as they are today. They don't have much to do with the athletics. They have become soaked in commercialism and has the main purpose of instilling the idea in people that they need to buy more stuff to be happy. With the current state of the planet, this message is equal to yelling fire in a crowded theatre.

The Olympics also puts a great burden on the working class of the country in which they are held. Apparently you cannot have the Olympics in already existing stadiums so the host is forced to invest massive sums in infrastructure. It is the working class who ends up paying through their taxes while the profits generated by the games (which are not always greater than the investments) ends up in the pocket of the bourgeoisie. Furthermore all kinds of repressive police state methods are being employed to quell protests and to make room for the building projects.

[brigadista]

its a corporate fiesta-
gonna watch on the TV and Usain Bolt is running in Birmingham so ...

[Agathor]

Fuck the RMT. It's a Tory caricature of a trade union. Tube drivers work 35 hour weeks for 50k. My mum is a teacher. She works ten hour days at the school and continues to work at home through the evening, and at the weekends. She gets 27k.

Fuck these people.

[bricolage]

Fuck the RMT. It's a Tory caricature of a trade union. Tube drivers work 35 hour weeks for 50k. My mum is a teacher. She works ten hour days at the school and continues to work at home through the evening, and at the weekends. She gets 27k.

Fuck these people.
tube drivers get paid more because they have organised and fought for it, maybe if the NUS was a bit more like the RMT (and I'm not even mentioning the numerous problems with the RMT - and trade unionism as a whole) teachers would be getting paid more.

if you want to moralise (which is what you're doing) then plenty of people work much harder and much longer shifts than teachers and get paid much less than 27k. however that's not the kind of race to the bottom supposed 'revolutionaries' should be lending their support to, and neither is your post which just reproduces the same old divisions (which are far more 'tory' than anything the RMT has ever done) and snipes at the very basis of the class movement.

[black magick hustla]

the olympics are boring as shit anyway

[dodger]

Fuck the RMT. It's a Tory caricature of a trade union. Tube drivers work 35 hour weeks for 50k. My mum is a teacher. She works ten hour days at the school and continues to work at home through the evening, and at the weekends. She gets 27k.

Fuck these people.

I respect teachers as I would have hoped people might respect train drivers.

If your mother is dissatisfied with her present job and/or prospects I can send you a link?application forms whereby she can apply for a job. I have worked nearly 40yrs on the Underground it is a fine job with a good routine.Along with salary there is a 1st class pension scheme 8 weeks holiday+good career prospects. I suggest a simple google to get background on Rmt I was a test driver and earned more than your quote. However along with other grades we all marched together and cleaners many with limited knowledge of English/organizing have won for themselves better pay and conditions. The RMT does not only fight over pay it has issues with management over health and safety of workers and passengers. Proper investment in infrastructure to improve services.

The RMT has no connection with the Tory PARTY. It has broken its close affiliation with Labour and whilst Labour has lost members we are recruiting. We helped found the Labour party in early 1900's it was not our finest hour. We were told we lacked the sophistication to advance politically. Dodger is living proof that idea is nonsense. We now use the money to advance the political interests of our members. WE ALSO HAVE STRONG TIES WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ACROSS THE GLOBE IN ADDITION TO MARITIME MEMBERS. We also set in place norms that advanced race and womens conditions in the workplace. Along with gay and gender issues. Drug and stress problems. As for myself I survived 3 recessions. Bless the RMT.

I AM AT A LOSS TO KNOW WHAT BROUGHT ABOUT YOUR HATRED OF US.

Agathor don't be such a silly sausage. Perlease I beg you.

[Agathor]

tube drivers get paid more because they have organised and fought for it, maybe if the NUS was a bit more like the RMT (and I'm not even mentioning the numerous problems with the RMT - and trade unionism as a whole) teachers would be getting paid more.

if you want to moralise (which is what you're doing) then plenty of people work much harder and much longer shifts than teachers and get paid much less than 27k. however that's not the kind of race to the bottom supposed 'revolutionaries' should be lending their support to, and neither is your post which just reproduces the same old divisions (which are far more 'tory' than anything the RMT has ever done) and snipes at the very basis of the class movement.

The RMT give ammo to the union-breakers. When someone earning 25k learns that he won't be able to get to work because people who earn - let's be honest - far more than they're worth, are striking for more, the natural reaction is, 'fuck those people'. When they do it just before an England game or an Olympic event the reaction is even worse. And the Daily Mail types can turn this into a general opposition to unions without much effort.

We can't all earn earn 50k - there's not enough money.

These aren't deviant, reactionary opinions. This is the opinion of the British working class, and you can find that out by looking at polls. It's not the opinion of the extremely small organized left in Britain, which largely feels obliged to support all strikes without examining the details.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

The RMT give ammo to the union-breakers. When someone earning 25k learns that he won't be able to get to work because people who earn - let's be honest - far more than they're worth, are striking for more, the natural reaction is, 'fuck those people'. When they do it just before an England game or an Olympic event the reaction is even worse. And the Daily Mail types can turn this into a general opposition to unions without much effort.

We can't all earn earn 50k - there's not enough money.

These aren't deviant, reactionary opinions. This is the opinion of the British working class, and you can find that out by looking at polls. It's not the opinion of the extremely small organized left in Britain, which largely feels obliged to support all strikes without examining the details.

For a second here with this tripe I thought I was reading comments on Daily Mail articles! Not enough money, whatever that means!

[Agathor]

I respect teachers as I would have hoped people might respect train drivers.

If your mother is dissatisfied with her present job and/or prospects I can send you a link?application forms whereby she can apply for a job. I have worked nearly 40yrs on the Underground it is a fine job with a good routine.Along with salary there is a 1st class pension scheme 8 weeks holiday+good career prospects. I suggest a simple google to get background on Rmt I was a test driver and earned more than your quote. However along with other grades we all marched together and cleaners many with limited knowledge of English/organizing have won for themselves better pay and conditions. The RMT does not only fight over pay it has issues with management over health and safety of workers and passengers. Proper investment in infrastructure to improve services.

The RMT has no connection with the Tory PARTY. It has broken its close affiliation with Labour and whilst Labour has lost members we are recruiting. We helped found the Labour party in early 1900's it was not our finest hour. We were told we lacked the sophistication to advance politically. Dodger is living proof that idea is nonsense. We now use the money to advance the political interests of our members. WE ALSO HAVE STRONG TIES WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ACROSS THE GLOBE IN ADDITION TO MARITIME MEMBERS. We also set in place norms that advanced race and womens conditions in the workplace. Along with gay and gender issues. Drug and stress problems. As for myself I survived 3 recessions. Bless the RMT.

I AM AT A LOSS TO KNOW WHAT BROUGHT ABOUT YOUR HATRED OF US.

Agathor don't be such a silly sausage. Perlease I beg you.

It's pretty obvious that the RMT is a self-serving interest block. But I would be interested to know how you defend striking during England games and other national events.

[NoPasaran1936]

Fuck the RMT. It's a Tory caricature of a trade union. Tube drivers work 35 hour weeks for 50k. My mum is a teacher. She works ten hour days at the school and continues to work at home through the evening, and at the weekends. She gets 27k.

Fuck these people.
Surely the RMT have shown what a trade union, and an organised body of workers can produce?

I completely understand your sentiment, however, the teaching unions should take a leaf out of the RMT's book.


In my personal view, I actually enjoy watching the olympics, some great athletes, and this Usain Bolt fella is incredible. However, whilst it's a great shame it has come down to strike action, needs are a must, therefore justified and will be crippling and effective.

If I'm honest again, how many people actually do watch the olympics compared to the FIFA world cup? Figures aren't extroadinarily high, aren't they? So, only the middle class and upper class poodles will be the ones effected trying to get there, and who cares about them; very few care about us.

A man, and a woman deserve decent pay, decent work benefits and an insurance that they will get sick, maternity, paternity etc pay, access to NHS free at the point of delivery, etc. So, Tories. You know what to do, we know and you know what road you're gonna take, it's just a shame, but it was foreseeable.

[grendalsbane]

A part of me hopes the Olympics is a big fuck up.

I have nothing against the Olympics as such, I just hate how it has turned into an opportunity for politicians and capitalists to pat themselves on the back and boost their already inflated egos.

[bricolage]

The RMT give ammo to the union-breakers.
union-breakers are given ammo by the very existence of organised labour, what do you want them to do, lie down and hide in the hope that capital will just leave us alone for a bit?


When someone earning 25k learns that he won't be able to get to work because people who earn - let's be honest - far more than they're worth, are striking for more, the natural reaction is, 'fuck those people'.
and how do you define 'worth'? what kind of valuation of human beings do you put into this? workers produce the entirety of social wealth, worth doesn't even come into it. workers are worth as much as they are able to fight for, other people don't earn 25k (and once again many people earn much less than this) because tube drivers are organised, they do so because business want to (shock horror) make profit and do so by raising the rate of exploitation. with that in mind how much they earn is determined by how well they can resist this, something tube drivers have, in a small way, been able to do.


When they do it just before an England game or an Olympic event the reaction is even worse.
yes a lot of people dislike class struggle and like patriotic displays. this isn't a popularity contest though.


And the Daily Mail types can turn this into a general opposition to unions without much effort.
likewise this is going to happen anyway.


We can't all earn earn 50k - there's not enough money.
this is irrelevants, our demands aren't a matter of affordability as if we are trying to balance the books of capital. they aren't about sharing pieces of the pie around they're about (and sorry for the terrible metaphor) seizing the whole bakery. our demands are infinite and if you are confining them to how much the state can spend then you are never going to get anywhere.


These aren't deviant, reactionary opinions. This is the opinion of the British working class, and you can find that out by looking at polls. It's not the opinion of the extremely small organized left in Britain, which largely feels obliged to support all strikes without examining the details.
undeniably such opinions are widespread, the question then becomes whether you pander to them or whether you maintain a principled position (*). we don't support strikes because we are mindless robots but because they are movements of the working class and when we draw our line that's the side we stand on. if tube drivers were to do what it seems you are saying, cut out the striking malarky and take pay cuts, teachers wouldn't get paid more and the general public wouldn't suddenly become socialists. all that would happen would be a class defeat and a capitulation of self-professed revolutionaries to the side of capital.

* I would say though that the extent to which they are this widespread amongst workers might be declining. two jobs ago I was working as a temp in a part-privatised pathology lab in a hospital. the company it had been outsourced to where trying to bring in new shift agreements where overtime pay would be slashed massively. I remember watching a news story about an upcoming tube strike and some lab assistants saying to each other how they'd always been fully against them before but now seeing what was happening to them they were starting to see where they were coming from. this is of course just anecdotal evidence but if you look back in time to periods such as the 70s when social revolt was at a much higher level and workers regularly won massive concessions from strikes general opinion (and by that I mean amongst the working class) was very different to how it is now.

[bricolage]

It's pretty obvious that the RMT is a self-serving interest block. But I would be interested to know how you defend striking during England games and other national events.
1. you use situations to your advantage. when miners spoke of general winter as their biggest ally they knew it would be unpopular and would lead to discomfort for many but it heightened their bargaining position and strengthened the strike.
2. the olympics is a PR game to show the world that the UK is at peace and to 'make the country look good'. it's entire facade is of a place in social cohesion and I'd applaud anyone able to show just how false that is.

[dodger]

It's pretty obvious that the RMT is a self-serving interest block. But I would be interested to know how you defend striking during England games and other national events.

My Agathor you do catch on fast the union advances the interests of its members. As to striking during the actual games, I shall comment on that when it happens..........IT IS PURELY A TACTICAL QUESTION..Meanwhile here is but one example of Teachers advancing their cause and education too so all might benefit. I salute them.


http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=5975


*****************************

[bricolage]

In my personal view, I actually enjoy watching the olympics, some great athletes, and this Usain Bolt fella is incredible. However, whilst it's a great shame it has come down to strike action, needs are a must, therefore justified and will be crippling and effective.
yeah I mean if people want to watch the olympics or if they have tickets and it's something they enjoy then I hope they have a good time. personally athletics bores me but that's a personal thing. the south african world cup was built on communities being razed to the ground and cops invading shack settlements but I still watched it because I enjoy the sport (despite how shit international football generally is) and I'm not into individual moralising. but if one of the many south african social movements had burst into a stadium and occupied the pitch I wouldn't be screaming to the heavens about how unjust they were. likewise it's disappointing to see people allowing personal enjoyment to alter their positions on strike action.

[The Idler]

Apparently the Nazi's came up with the torch relay (http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/carrying-torch-for-nazism.html).

[Bostana]

All the Olympics is doing is causing a spike in tourism so now investors and C.E.O's can invest in the British Pound and become even more rich

[pastradamus]

All the Olympics is doing is causing a spike in tourism so now investors and C.E.O's can invest in the British Pound and become even more rich

Indeed. Events like this only offer minium-wage level jobs over a short period so the likes of Cameron can say that he reduced unemployment.

[bricolage]

Indeed. Events like this only offer minium-wage level jobs over a short period so the likes of Cameron can say that he reduced unemployment.
lots, maybe most, of the olympic roles are being filled by volunteers, so not even minimum wage.